Trump pursues new import taxes
- President Donald Trump’s trade office opened hearings on April 28 to build new Section 301 tariffs after the Supreme Court voided his emergency-based duties. - The first case covers 60 economies tied to forced-labor enforcement; a second hearing on May 5 targets 16 partners over manufacturing overcapacity. - The shift moves Trump from temporary 10% stopgap tariffs toward sturdier trade-law tools that are likelier to survive court fights. (scotusblog.com)
President Donald Trump’s trade team began hearings Tuesday to build a new round of tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down his earlier global duties in February. (usnews.com) (scotusblog.com) The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a law that lets Washington penalize what it says are unfair foreign trade practices. Tuesday’s hearing covers 60 economies over alleged failures to block goods made with forced labor. (ustr.gov) (federalregister.gov) A second Section 301 case is already queued up for May 5 through May 8. That one targets 16 trading partners, including China, the European Union, Japan, Mexico and India, over what the administration calls structural overcapacity in manufacturing. (federalregister.gov) (pbs.org) The new cases are the administration’s answer to a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling on February 20, 2026, that said Trump had exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The justices left open the question of refunds for importers that had paid the earlier tariffs. (scotusblog.com) After that loss, Trump imposed a temporary 10% global tariff under Section 122 of the 1974 trade law. That stopgap can last only 150 days unless Congress extends it, and judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade questioned its legal footing on April 10. (politico.com) The White House has also shifted toward sector-by-sector tariffs that rest on other statutes. On April 2, Trump proclaimed new duties on pharmaceuticals under Section 232, after Commerce found import dependence threatened national security. (whitehouse.gov) (politico.com) In that proclamation, the White House said about 53% of patented pharmaceutical products distributed in the United States are made abroad, and only 15% of patented active pharmaceutical ingredients by volume are produced domestically for the U.S. market. (whitehouse.gov) U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has said the policy goal has not changed even if the legal tools have. The hearings that opened on April 28 are the clearest sign that Trump is trying to rebuild his tariff wall on statutes courts may view as more durable. (pbs.org) (usnews.com)
