President Donald Trump is rebuilding his tariff wall hours before a temporary global levy expires, keeping trade risk on Wall Street’s radar.
- SPY shares were down Thursday. See the chart here.
The administration announced on Thursday that it will impose tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners at 12:01 a.m. ET Friday.
The duties target countries accused of weak enforcement against goods made with forced labor and will replace a temporary 10% worldwide tariff expiring simultaneously.
Countries with stronger anti-forced-labor laws will receive the 10% rate, while those deemed to have inadequate protections face 12.5%.
The new tariffs rely on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Trump’s temporary tariff used Section 122, which limits such measures to 150 days without congressional action.
Goods already in transit receive a reprieve through 12:01 a.m. ET on July 28, according to Reuters.
Exemptions also cover oil, gas, fertilizer, certain foods and products already subject to Section 232 duties. Those include autos, steel, aluminum and copper. Goods compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement are also excluded.
The shift preserves much of Trump’s tariff strategy after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down earlier emergency-based duties in February, while also giving the Trump administration a new legal route for pressuring trading partners.
Import-heavy businesses may absorb higher costs or pass them to customers. The immediate rate changes appear modest for many countries, but policy uncertainty remains substantial.
For markets, the tariffs keep inflation, margins and supply-chain costs in focus. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) could react to the new tariff structure, as well as any retaliation or new exemptions.
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