The Trump administration proposed a new 10 percent tariff Tuesday, citing concerns that the European Union had failed to ban the import of goods made using forced labor, drawing a rebuke from the European Commission, which called the move unjustified.
The tariffs, proposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, would supersede interim duties implemented under another authority of the same act that are due to expire in July. The interim tariffs themselves replaced Trump’s original emergency tariffs, which were struck down in February by the U.S. Supreme Court and formed the basis of the Turnberry accord.
In parallel, under another Section 301 investigation launched this spring, the U.S. could impose more tariffs over concerns about excess manufacturing capacity in 16 economies including China, the EU and Japan.
Greer said a decision would come in the excess capacity probe in “a matter of weeks,” noting that it was “a complex investigation.”
Tariff ceiling
Washington’s top trade official suggested that tariffs imposed under the forced labor and excess capacity probes could comply with a 15 percent tariff ceiling agreed in Turnberry. That deal was spelled out in a joint statement last August.
“We believe that there’s room to accommodate that deal within the context of what we’re doing, provided that the European Union delivers on the Turnberry deal,” added Greer, who met EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič in Paris on Wednesday.
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