Trump administration imposes new tariffs over forced labor concerns, faces immediate lawsuit

President Donald Trump is going ahead with new double-digit tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners just as the clock runs out Friday 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. A new lawsuit argues the administration has no basis to put them in place. The suit is from the Liberty Justice Center, the same group that successfully sued to stop an earlier wave of Trump administration tariffs. The White House has argued the latest tariffs are in response to countries' use of forced labor. The new lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration is exceeding its authority by imposing the tariffs. “Forced labor is morally indefensible, but an important objective does not give the government permission to ignore the law,” said Sara Albrecht, Chairman and CEO of the Liberty Justice Center. “The administration allowed one global tariff to expire and immediately replaced it with another under a different statute. Changing the statute doesn’t change the law. Every tariff authority has limits, and every administration must respect them.” ------------------------------------- Follow Scripps News on other platforms— Join our newsletter at https://bit.ly/2q1tepr Follow us on Facebook:   / scrippsnews   Follow us on X: https://x.com/scrippsnews Follow us on Instagram:   / scrippsnews   Follow us on TikTok:   / scrippsnews