The United States has imposed new tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on all goods from 60 trading partners, including the UK, China and the European Union — the latest salvo in the trade war reignited by President Donald Trump after his return to office last year.
The levies, which replace an identical temporary duty set to expire on Friday, cover 99.4% of all American imports, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative. The move was justified by claims key economic partners have failed to properly tackle forced labour.
“US hits UK with 10-12.5% tariffs on all goods, citing forced labour, but experts say it's about trade deficit and manufacturing.”
But Caroline Freund, dean of the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, told the BBC’s Today programme the justification was a pretext. “I think they were looking for a legal reason to put the tariffs in and that they can maintain them because their goals — and [US Trade Representative Jamieson] Greer has been very clear about this, as has Trump — is about the trade deficit and it is about US manufacturing, it is not about forced labour,” she said.
The US Supreme Court earlier this year struck down many of Trump’s tariffs imposed under emergency powers, prompting the White House to propose the current duties last month. In a statement, 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.”
For the UK, the new tariffs create a competitive disadvantage. William Bain, head of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the EU secured a 10% all-inclusive deal on its goods, while the UK faces 10% universal tariffs on top of any duties imposed on individual products. “So there will be some concerns in the business community this morning about what that means,” he told the BBC.
Wendy Cutler, economic security expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said the tariffs are likely to raise costs for businesses and consumers, though the impact could be softened by the number of exempted goods. She added that most trading partners would be disappointed and were likely to focus on ways to “reduce their dependence on the US” by making deals with other countries.
The move marks a significant escalation in transatlantic trade tensions, leaving British exporters facing higher barriers than their EU counterparts — a shift that could reshape supply chains and trade flows for years to come.