US Tariff: US President Donald Trump has dropped a new bomb of tariffs on 17 countries including India. Cracking down on the import of products made with forced labour, the US administration has announced the imposition of import duty ranging from 10% to 12.5% on goods coming from various countries. Under this decision, imports from India have been kept in the 10% category.
US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer has announced this action on a total of 60 global economies under Section 301 of the Trade Act 1974. This tariff has become effective from 24 July 2026.
America alleges that forced labor has been used in the manufacturing of these products. According to USTR Jamieson Greer, the US has strictly prohibited the import of goods made with forced labor for nearly a century. Now it is time that our trading partners around the world also adopt the same stance and strictly implement this rule.
The plan was to impose 12.5% tariff on India
News agency ANI quoted officials as saying that the initial proposal had proposed a duty of 12.5 percent, keeping India in the high-risk category. However, on June 14, the Government of India amended its ‘Foreign Trade Policy’ to completely ban the import of goods manufactured with forced labour. After positive bilateral talks on labor practice and this policy step by India, Washington gave relief to India and kept it in the 10% category. This slab of 10 percent includes India along with 17 countries like Canada, Britain, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The decision comes at a time when the 150-day period of the temporary 10% global tariff imposed by President Trump under emergency powers was ending.
In fact, in February this year, the US Supreme Court had declared the ‘Reciprocal Tariffs’ imposed by the Trump administration last year as unconstitutional. After this, the administration had imposed an interim duty of 10% on all the countries under emergency provisions and also USTR started this new investigation under Section 301.
India has officially objected to these investigations and unilateral actions of USTR. India believes that such policy and sensitive issues should be resolved through ongoing bilateral trade negotiations between the two countries rather than unilateral decisions.
It is noteworthy that America is India’s largest export market and second largest trading partner. By the year 2025, bilateral trade in goods between the two countries would have been approximately US $ 141 billion, of which India’s exports alone were worth $ 87.3 billion. In such a situation, it is believed that the impact of this new tariff on Indian exporters is certain.