Donald Trump Imposes New Round of Tariffs

Dozens of countries are set to be targeted in sweeping double-digit levies

By: Austin Abbring

July 27, 2026

Here we go again. Donald Trump has imposed a new round of sweeping tariffs on 60 countries following the Supreme Court's ruling that shut down the initial “Liberation Day” levies. The Trump administration is now citing forced labor as its main motive for these tariffs, which will be placed on a number of countries at a 10%-12.5% rate. The courts halted the previous tariffs as the administration implemented them under the IEEPA, or International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and they had no grounds to do so. The IEEPA allows the president to control commerce if there is a threat to national security or some other foreign threat. This was when President Trump was constantly citing the drug trade and fentanyl trafficking as part of their rationale for such harsh trade barriers. Despite the fact that fentanyl deaths have been in a sharp decline since 2023 under the Biden administration, as well as the fact that the vast majority of fentanyl is smuggled into the United States at legal ports of entry by U.S. citizens. 

This time, the administration is attempting to justify these tariffs as part of the Trade Act of 1974 under Section 301. This would be utilized to castigate any trade partner using forced labor. Which, again, I think these tariffs will be found unconstitutional, but it will be an even tougher legal battle than before. Forced labor practices are a globalized systemic issue that is incredibly nuanced by region and country; however, another round of blanket tariffs is not the solution to this issue. Trump just has a fractured ego and desperately wants his tariff regime to stick. If this administration truly cared about forced labor practices, they would not be imposing tariff rates on countries like Australia or Canada at 12.5%, which have tens of thousands of people subject to these practices, versus a country like China, which is also being taxed at 12.5% when they have hundreds upon hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people under the same forced labor purview. 

These new tariffs will impact 99% of all U.S. imports and target our trade partners in the E.U. (European Union), Canada, Mexico, Australia, et ceteta. Basically all of our major partners once again, just this time under a different pretext. This could not come at a worse time for Americans, as the war in Iran has ramped up and continues to truly set off the entire Middle East region into a massive conflict which has resulted in fuel prices back over a $4 a gallon national average. Couple this with yet another regressive tax in the form of tariffs, and I fear we see a recession in the next year or year and a half if this all keeps pace. I like taxes, but in a progressive manner, not a regressive one. Just a reminder to anyone still confused by who ultimately pays a tariff: it is the American consumer. Our businesses eat the initial cost, and in a manner that would give Ronald Reagan a semi, it trickles down to the average American in the form of increased prices. 

This is why the “Liberation Day” tariffs were complete insanity. They were unjustified; they were one of the most harmful primary economic agendas by the Republican Party in my lifetime; the reciprocal tariffs were completely made up by the White House; there were two countries/regions being levied that did not have a human population, which shows how half-assed all of this was, and all of it culminated in crushing our manufacturing job numbers and costing American households significantly more expenditure. According to the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, the U.S. lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs in 2025. Early in 2025, manufacturing jobs were on the uptick; however, we began to see massive losses following April of that year, after tariffs were implemented. Additionally, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in its nonpartisan data collection that American households spent a further $1,700 as a result of the trade policies that were enacted by Trump. Remember, folks, short-term pain for long-term gain. With everything on the table here, I do not see how the Federal Reserve cuts rates to heat up the economy. If anything, it is going to maintain current rates, and I fear we are heading towards stagflation. This would put the Fed in a horrible position, and we will see American families, around 60% of which already live paycheck to paycheck or have no emergency funds, put in even tougher constraints. Americans are struggling immensely, and we have an administration that could not care less.