US imposes new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on goods from partners including the EU and China, President Donald Trump's latest set of tariff hikes drew heated objections Friday from America's trading partners, with Australia's trade minister slamming them as “completely unjustified.”The administration announced extra tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on 60 economies late Thursday, saying the countries had failed to adequately enforce a ban on goods made with forced labor.The new tariffs took effect just as stopgap levies Trump imposed after a stinging defeat at the Supreme Court expired at 12:01 a.m. Friday.Countries object to what they call unfounded labor claimsAustralian Trade Minister Don Farrell rejected claims linking Australia, a major exporter of beef, gold and copper, to modern slavery and raising the tariff on its exports to the U.S.
to 12.5% from the 10% level imposed after Trump’s “Liberation Day” hikes last year.“We believe that amongst all of the countries in the world Australia does take the issue of slavery, modern slavery, seriously, and will continue to do that,” Farrell told reporters in Adelaide.Australia believes the higher tariffs are “completely unjustified and we will continue to lobby the United States Trade Representative to remove all tariffs on Australian goods,” Farrell said.New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the tariffs on his country, also subject to a 12.5% import duty, were “extremely disappointing,” unjustified and harmful to trade.A U.S. investigation serving as the basis for the tariffs did not provide meaningful evidence to support allegations of forced labor.“Tariffs are not the way — they drive up costs and uncertainty for businesses,” he wrote on X.European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas questioned the U.S. stance in comments on Channel News Asia.“If you compare our labor laws to the ones of the United States, I mean we have, people have paid vacations, we have very good conditions, labor conditions for our employees, so it's not really grounded,” Kallas said.Some hope to forestall the tariff hikesJapan likewise protested the 12.5% tariff imposed on its exports, noting Tokyo had been reassured by the Trump administration that there would be no more tariffs on top of an earlier agreement on a 10% U.S.
import duty.“Our understanding is both sides are still committed to that,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a routine news conference.“It is regrettable that the measure i… Washington – A new wave of US tariffs targeting 60 trading partners took effect Friday, replacing an expiring global duty rolled out by President Donald Trump earlier this year. The levies range from 10 percent to 12.5 percent and impact major economies like China, India and the European Union.
“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. He earlier added that the targeted economies represent the majority of US trade. The Trump administration has moved swiftly to rebuild the president’s tariff wall after the Supreme Court struck down a host of his duties in February — dealing a blow to his ability to unleash steep levies at will.
After the setback, Trump tapped different authorities to reimpose a 10-percent tariff on imports. But this only lasted 150 days and expired Friday. The volley of new duties, initially proposed in June, now takes its place.
The measures were planned after a months-long investigation and are considered more resistant to legal challenges than earlier moves. Under Thursday’s announcement, economies that have implemented a forced labor import prohibition or committed to do so are hit with the lower 10-percent rate. They include Canada, the EU, India and the United Kingdom.
Summary from source