US to Impose New Tariffs on 60 Trading Partners Including Indonesia

The United States will impose new tariffs on imports from 60 major trading partners, including Indonesia, China, Japan, and the European Union, effective 24 July. The policy, announced by the US Trade Representative, applies a 10% tariff on goods from approximately 20 countries, including Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and Malaysia, which Washington considers to have taken stronger legal steps to prevent forced labour imports. A higher rate of 12.5% will be levied on the remaining nations, including China, Japan, and South Korea, based on the US government’s assessment of their use of forced labour in supply chains.

The new tariffs are being introduced as a temporary 10% global tariff, enacted under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, is set to expire. That measure was implemented after the Supreme Court struck down the administration’s previous reciprocal tariff regime. The new duties will not apply to products already subject to sectoral tariffs, such as automobiles and steel, which were previously imposed on national security grounds.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stated that decades of moral persuasion had failed to eliminate forced labour from global supply chains, putting American firms at a competitive disadvantage. The administration is concurrently preparing more permanent tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act to address unfair trade practices. The investigation covers 16 economies, including China, India, Japan, and Vietnam, and the new duties will be added on top of existing tariffs for countries like China.