US announces 12.5% tariffs on Korea, Japan over forced labor concerns

United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, testifies during a Senate Committee on Finance hearing to examine the President's 2026 trade policy agenda on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 22, in Washington. AP-Yonhap

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday announced its final decision to impose new tariffs of up to 12.5 percent on South Korea, Japan and 58 other trading partners over forced labor concerns.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) unveiled new tariffs ranging from 10 percent to 12.5 percent, effective Friday (Washington time), after conducting probes into 60 economies under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act to determine whether they had taken sufficient steps to ban imports made with forced labor.

The announcement came as the administration's temporary 10-percent global tariffs were set to expire Friday. The across-the-board duties were rolled out after the Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration's country-specific "reciprocal tariffs" in February.

Under the latest tariff decision, products from Korea, Japan and Switzerland will face additional Section 301 tariffs to the extent that the total U.S. tariff rate reaches 12.5 percent. Products already subject to most-favored nation (MFN) tariffs of 12.5 percent or higher will not face new Section 301 duties.

For Taiwanese and European Union (EU) products, the total tariff rate will be capped at 10 percent.

The USTR rolled out a 10 percent Section 301 tariff on goods of Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Britain and 14 other countries while announcing a 12.5 percent Section 301 tariff on other investigated countries.

"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," USTR Jamieson Greer said.

"Today's action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere."

Last month, the USTR proposed a 12.5 percent tariff on South Korea and other economies over forced labor concerns.

In comments submitted to the USTR, the South Korean government had urged the U.S. to reconsider the proposed forced labor tariff, calling the proposal "unwarranted" and "disproportionate" given the relevant circumstances of Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Separate from the investigations on forced labor concerns, the USTR office has also conducted Section 301 investigations into South Korea, China, Japan and 13 other trading partners to uncover "unfair" trade practices related to "structural" excess capacity and production.

The investigations came as the Trump administration sought to replace the invalidated reciprocal tariffs that it had imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.