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Tariffs

Trump Imposes Massively Harmful and Illegal Section 301 Tariffs

The new policy is based on sham investigations, and runs afoul of the major questions and nondelegation doctrine.

Ilya Somin | 7.23.2026 8:32 PM

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Today, the Trump Administration announced massive new tariffs, supposedly authorized by Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974:

The Trump administration on Thursday finalized new double-digit tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners as it seeks to reconstitute sweeping duties struck down by the Supreme Court in February.

The new duties, which range from 10 to 12.5 percent, follow a five-month investigation into trading partners' efforts to root out products made with forced labor from their supply chains and are set to take effect just as a temporary global 10 percent tariff expires.

Starting Friday, 17 trading partners — including Canada, the European Union, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and Mexico — will face a 10 percent duty, along with another 10 countries that agreed to address forced labor through signed trade agreements with the U.S.

Another 43 other countries, including Japan, China, South Korea and Australia, will face a 12.5 percent tariff rate….

The Section 301 tariffs may be meant to replace temporary Section 122 tariffs, which expire today, and which were rightly invalidated by the US Court of International Trade in May (though appellate litigation continues, and Trump may yet hope to use Section 122 again). The new tariffs will predictably raise prices for consumers, reduce economic growth, inflict grave harm on the US economy, and further........

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