U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Environmental Protection Agency on July 23.AP/YONHAP
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday finalized its forced labor tariffs ranging from 10 percent to 12.5 percent on imports from 60 countries, with Korea slapped with a 12.5 percent tariff.
Imports from Korea will be subject to a combined tariff rate of up to 12.5 percent after taking into account existing most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff rates.
The new tariff regime, imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act, will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday. The measure replaces the existing 10 percent global tariff imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act, which expires the same day.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced Thursday it had taken final action to impose tariffs of between 10 percent and 12.5 percent on 60 economies "for their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor."
"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 USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer in a press release on Thursday. "Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and a distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere."
The USTR imposed a 10 percent tariff on 19 economies including Canada, Mexico, Britain and India that have imposed a forced labor import prohibition, or have committed to do so through agreements with the United States.
The remaining 41 economies, including Korea, China, Australia, Brazil, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, were subject to a 12.5 percent tariff after the USTR determined that they had failed to implement such import bans.
Korea was placed in a separate category alongside Japan and Switzerland, with the combined rate of its existing MFN tariff and the new Section 301 forced labor tariff capped at 12.5 percent.
For instance, a product subject to a 2.5 percent MFN tariff will face an additional 10 percent Section 301 tariff, bringing the total to 12.5 percent. Products with a zero percent MFN tariff will be subject to the full 12.5 percent Section 301 tariff, while products already subject to an MFN tariff of 12.5 percent or higher will not face an additional Section 301 tariff.
United States Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer holds up a trade document at a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington on July 22.REUTERS/YONHAP
The measure is seen as part of the Trump administration's "America First" trade policy. The USTR said the policy aims to use tariffs and trade agreements to address unfair trade practices and protect American manufacturing and workers. It added that the tariffs serve as a warning against the widespread use of forced labor in global supply chains and encourage other countries to adopt policies to eradicate the practice.
Products already subject to national security tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act are exempt from the additional Section 301 tariffs. As a result, steel, aluminum, copper, passenger vehicles, buses, trucks and related auto parts will not be subject to overlapping tariffs.
The Trump administration also established exemptions to help maintain supply chain stability and avoid economic disruption. The exemptions cover products for which U.S. production capacity is insufficient, alternative sources of supply are difficult to secure or supply disruptions could affect broader industries.
More than 471 product categories are included, such as essential raw materials, pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, civil aircraft parts, used clothing and certain agricultural and fishery products.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration temporarily imposed a 10 percent global tariff for up to 150 days under Section 122 of the Trade Act. With that tariff set to expire on Friday following the U.S. Supreme Court's February ruling that its reciprocal tariffs were unlawful, the USTR has pursued Section 301 investigations into forced labor and structural overcapacity as the legal basis for its replacement.
A separate investigation into structural overcapacity involving 16 countries remains underway, with Korea among those under review. Additional tariffs related to structural overcapacity are expected to be announced in the coming months.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
