President Donald Trump is going ahead with new double-digit tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners just as the clock runs out on stopgap levies he imposed after a stinging defeat at the Supreme Court. The United States will slap taxes of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 countries accounting for 99% of U.S. imports, charging that they have inadequately enforced bans on goods produced by forced labor.

Forced Labor and Tariffs

The new tariffs will take effect just as temporary 10% worldwide tariffs expire. Trump had turned to those temporary levies after the Supreme Court struck down his biggest and boldest tariffs in February. Now he’s tapping more durable tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which permits the president to impose import taxes and other sanctions against countries found to engage in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” trade practices.

Human rights watchers say that it’s reasonable to be skeptical of the motivation behind the tariffs. But they say the levies could make an impact on the problem of forced labor. Forced labor is defined by the International Labor Organization Forced Labor Convention of 1930 as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself (or herself) voluntarily.”

Impact and Response

Some products — including oil and gas and fertilizer — are exempted from the new tariffs announced Thursday. Also being spared are products that qualify for duty-free status under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the North American trade pact Trump negotiated in his first term. Tariffs are paid by companies in the United States that import foreign products. The importers usually try to pass along the cost by charging consumers higher prices.

Original reporting: NBC4 Los Angeles — read the source article.