The United States will impose a new round of tariffs on imports from 60 trading partners starting Friday, coinciding with the expiration of a temporary global tariff. According to a notice published in the Federal Register, goods from China, the European Union, Mexico, and other places will be affected under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, with some countries facing a 10% tariff rate on their exports to the U.S. and others facing a 12.5% rate. Goods already loaded on ships before Friday and entering U.S. customs for consumption by July 28 will not be affected by this increase.

According to the notice, for economies subject to most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff rates, such as the EU, Japan, and South Korea, the additional Section 301 tariffs will be calculated on a "net of MFN tariff" basis. In simple terms, after the Section 301 tariffs are stacked with MFN rates, the total tariff rate will not exceed 10% or 12.5% (depending on the country), unless the country's original MFN rate is already higher than that percentage.

"Those three words—'net of MFN'—could be the most impactful part of the entire notice," said Pete Mento, director of global trade advisory services at Baker Tilly, in a LinkedIn post. "If it works as it appears on the surface, this is not simply stacking another layer on top of existing tariffs. It could fundamentally change how Section 301 tariffs are calculated for the affected products."

The U.S. will exempt a range of products from the new tariffs, including various agricultural goods, as well as items such as steel and aluminum already subject to Section 232 tariffs. The notice also lists country-specific exemptions, such as certain textiles from Malaysia and whiskey from the UK.

Section 301 forced labor tariff rates (by country)

These tariffs stem from a Section 232 investigation launched in March into forced labor laws in major U.S. trading partners. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer first proposed the tariff increases last month, following the investigation's finding that these 60 countries had failed to "implement and effectively enforce" measures prohibiting products made with forced labor from entering the U.S. The Trump administration further strengthened that rationale on Thursday.

"Despite the long-standing international consensus that this practice must be eliminated, forced labor persists globally and has even intensified in recent years," the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) wrote in a fact sheet accompanying the Federal Register notice. The fact sheet stated that these tariffs would cover 99.4% of U.S. imports.

By announcing these new tariffs, the Trump administration is preparing for the expiration of a global 10% tariff. That tariff was implemented earlier this year after a Supreme Court ruling struck down previous tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. That temporary Section 122 tariff will expire this Friday.

Over the past week, the Trump administration has also imposed new tariffs on goods from Canada and Brazil. Both countries are also included on the list for these forced labor tariffs. Thursday's notice did not specify how the forced labor tariffs will interact with the new tariffs on Canada and Brazil.

More tariffs may be on the way. The U.S. is still conducting a Section 301 investigation into global manufacturing capacity, launched the same week as the forced labor investigation, but the results have not yet been released.