A new wave of US tariffs targeting 60 trading partners, including Bangladesh, took effect on Friday, replacing an expiring global duty rolled out by president Donald Trump earlier this year.

The levies, which range from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent and impact major economies like China, India and the European Union, sparked protests from Beijing and other targets.

‘The United States has had a forced labour import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,’ said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

He earlier said that the targeted economies represent the majority of US trade.

The Trump administration has moved swiftly to rebuild the president’s tariff wall after the Supreme Court struck down a host of his duties in February — dealing a blow to his ability to unleash steep levies at will.

After the setback, Trump tapped different authorities to reimpose a 10 per cent tariff on imports. But this only lasted 150 days and expired on Friday.

The volley of new duties, initially proposed in June, now takes its place.

The measures were planned after a months-long investigation and are considered more resistant to legal challenges than earlier moves.

Under Thursday’s announcement, economies that have implemented a forced labour import prohibition or committed to do so were hit with the lower 10-per cent rate. They include Canada, the EU, India and the United Kingdom.

China, Japan, South Korea and dozens of others were deemed to deserve the higher 12.5 per cent tariff.

Norway ‘firmly opposed’

Agence France-Presse . Oslo

Norway on Friday protested against a new wave of US tariffs imposed by Washington on its key trading partners, complaining that they were higher for the Scandinavian country than for the EU.

The new US tariffs targeting 60 trading partners took effect Friday, replacing an expiring global duty rolled out by president Donald Trump earlier this year.

Norway faces tariffs of 12.5 per cent on a number of products, while EU exports to the US will be slapped with levies of 10 per cent.

‘We are firmly opposed to the United States’ unilateral use of customs duties against Norway and other countries,’ said foreign minister Espen Barth Eide.

‘We also dispute the justification put forward by the United States for imposing these new duties,’ he said.

Barth Eide said that Oslo had urged Washington to ensure that its products were treated on an equal footing with other European products.

The United States accounts for less than five per cent of Norway’s exports of goods, according to official statistics, but represents an important market for seafood products, including Norwegian salmon.

The European Union expressed relief over the new tariff regime following concerns of possible retaliation to a massive fine that Brussels had slapped on US giant Google.

‘The EU notes positively the fact that this outcome is in line with the US tariff commitments agreed under the EU-US Joint Statement,’ European Commission spokesman Olof Gill said earlier in Brussels.

China opposes, warns against trade wars

Agence France-Presse . Beijing

Beijing condemned fresh US tariffs imposed on China and 59 other countries over alleged forced labour concerns Friday, and warned Washington against waging a trade war.

The US levies range from 10 to 12.5 per cent, with China slapped with the highest rate.

‘We oppose all forms of unilateral tariff measures,’ Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a news briefing on Friday.

‘Tariff wars and trade wars are not in the interests of any party,’ he warned.

The new tariffs replace an expiring global duty rolled out by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

The Trump administration has moved swiftly to rebuild the president’s tariff wall after the Supreme Court struck down a host of his duties in February — dealing a blow to his ability to unleash steep levies at will.

In unveiling the duties, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Washington was ‘rigorously’ enforcing a forced labour import ban and that it was ‘well past time for our trading partners to do the same’.

Economies that have implemented a forced labour prohibition — including Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom — received the lower 10-per cent rate.

Other major trade partners including India and Japan were hit with the higher 12.5-per cent tariffs.

China and the United States, which spent much of last year embroiled in an escalating trade war, reached a truce when Trump and President Xi Jinping met last October.

After Trump visited Beijing this year, China said it would work with the United States on reducing tariffs, but the latest levies threaten to renew trade tensions.

Japan ‘regrets’ new US tariffs

Agence France-Presse . Tokyo

Japan ‘regrets’ new US tariffs, the government said Friday, after Tokyo was included on Washington’s list of trading partners hit with levies ranging from 10 to 12.5 per cent.

‘Japan’s industry and trade are conducted in accordance with international rules. Japan regrets that this latest measure imposes tariffs on Japan solely on the grounds that there is no ban on the import of products produced through forced labour,’ chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara said.

‘Japan and the United States share the understanding that last year’s agreement is universal and that both sides remain committed to its implementation,’ Kihara told reporters.

‘We have also confirmed with the United States that it will not impose additional tariffs on Japan that exceed the terms of last year’s agreement. We will continue to work closely with the US side.’

Washington announced new tariffs on 60 trading partners over forced labour concerns, replacing an expiring global duty rolled out by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

The US Supreme Court struck down a host of his duties in February and Trump tapped different authorities to reimpose a 10-per cent tariff on imports. These expire after 150 days on Friday.

Japan agreed to invest $550 billion in the United States by 2029 in return for slashing threatened tariffs of 25 per cent to 15 per cent. The promises remained valid even after the US Supreme Court decision.

Under Thursday’s announcement economies that have implemented a forced labour import prohibition or committed to do so were hit with the lower 10-per cent rate. They include Canada, the EU, India and the United Kingdom.

China, Japan, South Korea and dozens of others were deemed to deserve the higher 12.5 per cent tariff.

EU breathes sigh of relief

Agence France-Presse . Brussels

The European Union expressed relief Friday over a new wave of US tariffs imposed by Washington on trading partners, following concerns of possible retaliation to a massive fine Brussels had slapped on US giant Google.

‘The EU notes positively the fact that this outcome is in line with the US tariff commitments agreed under the EU-US Joint Statement,’ said European Commission spokesman, Olof Gill.

The statement comes as a new wave of US tariffs targeting 60 trading partners took effect Friday, replacing an expiring global duty rolled out by president Donald Trump earlier this year.

The new levies range from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent and impact major economies like China, India and the European Union.

The EU spokesman said that the new regime would establish an all-inclusive tax rate of 10 per cent for the EU and reintroduce additional customs duty exemptions on certain European products, such as cork and diamonds.

In addition, other goods such as aircraft and their spare parts, and generic medicines were also exempt, Gill noted.

This would create a ‘positive dynamic’ for transatlantic discussions on various topics ranging from strategic raw materials to artificial intelligence, he said.

Washington’s announcement came just a few hours after the EU’s decision to impose a fine of 890 million euros (nearly $1 billion) on Google for anticompetitive practices in the digital sector.

This had fuelled European fears of possible retaliatory measures from Washington, for example in the form of higher customs duties, with the Trump administration regularly accusing the EU of unfairly targeting US companies via its digital regulations.

The fine imposed on Google ‘creates uncertainty’ in trade relations with the US, White House Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had warned Thursday, seeing in it ‘a real risk’ to the maintenance of transatlantic stability.

Over 80pc of Mexican exports exempt

Agence France-Presse . Mexico City

Over 80 per cent of Mexican exports to the United States will be exempt from a new round of tariffs announced by Washington, Mexican economic secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Thursday.

The announcement came as the United States and Mexico concluded their third round of negotiations reviewing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a regional free trade accord signed in 2020 that’s due for renegotiation.

Both trade parties agreed on ‘the urgent need to strengthen manufacturing in North America’ and to block the ‘improper use’ of the agreement by parties that are not included in it, according to a joint readout issued by Mexico’s Secretariat of Economy.

A fourth round of USMCA talks will take place in the first half of September, Ebrard said in a statement.

The tariffs, which will hit some 60 countries, take effect Friday and come in response to investigations by the government of president Donald Trump regarding the use of forced labor in products exported to the United States, the Office of US Trade Representatives said in a statement.

But Ebrard said the majority of Mexican exports won’t be affected because they comply with the requirements of the USMCA.

Ebrard said in a social media video that over 80 per cent of Mexican exports ‘follow the rules of the free trade agreement that we have, USMCA. Which is to say, that’s not changing.’

Mexico is the largest commercial partner of the United States, with exports topping $558 billion between June 2025 and May of this year, according to official data.

Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met at the presidential palace Thursday, as negotiators met to hash out updates to the treaty — which Washington has called deficient.

The duty, set at 10 per cent for Mexico but reaching up to 12.5 per cent for other countries, replaces a temporary levy imposed by Trump that expires on Friday.

Goods that are not covered under the USMCA will be subject to the new tariff, Ebrard said.

‘We don’t see a change in the tariff Mexico is paying today….it doesn’t change the position we’ve had up to now,’ Ebrard added.

Philippine business chamber ‘very concerned’

Agence France-Presse . Manila

A top Philippine business group said Friday it was ‘very concerned’ by a fresh round of US tariffs the Trump administration has said are tied to forced labour concerns.

The imposition of a 12.5 per cent tariff is the latest in a series of whiplash US levies on the archipelago nation of 116 million, Washington’s sole treaty ally in Southeast Asia.

A 19 per cent tariff was announced in 2025 only to be struck down by the US Supreme Court. That was then replaced by a 10 per cent surcharge on imports that was set to expire today.

‘We are very concerned and surprised by this new imposition of 12.5 per cent, which is very high,’ George Barcelon, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told AFP on Friday.

‘It will make industries less competitive,’ he said, adding he expected the country’s trade department to appeal against the new levy.

The child labour grounds being cited by the United States were ‘very unclear’, Barcelon added.

A 2024 US labour department report listed Philippine products including coconuts and copra meal as having ‘inputs produced with child labour’, while noting many countries made the list precisely because they were more transparent in dealing with the problem.

Philippine trade secretary Christina Roque told AFP the country had a ‘strong policy against forced labor consistent with various International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions’.

She added the country had only yesterday signed off on new mechanisms aimed at the issue.

Philippine ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said that while the new tariff was ‘much lower’ than the 19 per cent imposed in 2025, the country planned to negotiate the levy downward.

‘We will negotiate with the US government through our Undersecretary Allan Gepty,’ he said, adding there was ‘no timeline’ for that process.

The United States is the Philippines’ largest export market, accounting for about 16 per cent of goods sold.

China, Japan, South Korea and dozens of other countries were also hit with the higher 12.5 per cent tariff.

Cambodia, meanwhile, a fellow Southeast Asian state with well-documented concerns about forced labour at scam centres, was hit with a 10 per cent rate.

It was not immediately clear which Philippine products might escape the latest tolls.

Electronic components, which make up about two-thirds of the country’s exports, have previously been exempted.

NZ PM says ‘extremely disappointing’

Agence France-Presse . Wellington

New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon condemned new US tariffs on Friday as ‘extremely disappointing’ after his and 59 other countries were slapped with fresh levies over forced labour concerns.

‘The US investigation did not provide meaningful evidence to support claims in relation to forced labour,’ Luxon said on X.

‘Tariffs are not the way — they drive up costs and uncertainty for businesses,’ he added.

The levies, effective Friday, range from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent and impact major economies like China, India and the European Union.

New Zealand faces a 12.5 per cent rate.

Australia was also slapped with the same levy, with trade minister Don Farrell describing them as ‘unjustified, inconsistent with our free trade agreement, and should be removed’.