Greer hints at new Trump tariffs, recreating overturned trade regime

On Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer signaled that President Donald Trump’s round of additional tariffs was on the way; It’s the latest sign that the White House is working to reinvent the protectionist trade agenda that took a major hit earlier this year.

“We expect to see some action soon,” Greer told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked if new tariffs would be coming. Financial Times report Tuesday He said more missions could be announced this week.

“I can’t exactly put a timeline on it right now. I have a responsibility to brief Congress and other stakeholders before we actually announce something of that nature,” Greer said the day after the administration imposed tariffs on Canada. “But we expect action soon.”

The comments support trade experts’ view that the Trump administration is poised to recast aggressive trade policy after failing to keep the global “reciprocal” tariff regime intact, using the tools it has left and turning to legal justifications for new mandates that it expects to withstand court challenges.

Tariffs imposed under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, and seemingly soon to be introduced, have emerged as an important tool for this project, and they may prove more durable than the 2025 tariffs that have failed to withstand the US legal system.

“The expectation is continuity,” Blake Harden, trade policy expert and managing director of Washington Council Ernst & Young, told CNBC. “We’re really seeing this global tariff being recreated and 301 being used as a way to lock that in.”

Temporary import duties that Trump imposed just hours after the Supreme Court struck down his sweeping reciprocal tariff regime in February are set to expire Friday.

In February, Trump imposed a 10% blanket tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Section 122 tariffs are set to expire at 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday unless Congress intervenes, which it is unlikely to do.

But the Trump administration has already taken steps to shore up the tariff regime after the 122 tariffs expire.

In early June, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) proposed imposing tariffs of up to 12.5% ​​on imports from 60 economies. New 301 taxes will be introduced in response to allegations of forced labor.

“The United States has laws that prohibit the trafficking of goods through forced labor,” Greer said in Tuesday’s interview. “Most other countries don’t have a law. The ones that do, they don’t really enforce it.”

Greer said the proposed 301 tariffs would cover “about 99% of our trade.”

USTR also announced its new approach when it announced its review of 60 economies in mid marchOne day after a series of statements separate 301 probes focused on concerns about possible excess production capacity.

The economies involved in these trade investigations are: China, European Union, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Japan and India.

Any additional tariffs would be on top of other recent trade actions, including a 25 percent tariff on most imports from Brazil, also introduced under Section 301 and scheduled to take effect Wednesday.

On Monday, Trump signed the proclamation imposing a staggering new 50% tariff on a range of products from Canada within 30 days, citing allegations of trade discrimination against several US industries.

These tariffs on Canadian wine and beer, hockey sticks, cement, dog collars and many other products fall under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a nearly century-old authority that is rarely invoked.

Canada, the second largest trading partner of the USA after Mexico, did not take this news very positively.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney he said in a statement It was stated on Monday that Trump’s 50% tariffs are in direct violation of the North American trade agreement known as USMCA.

According to Reuters, Carney said on Tuesday that he and Trump had spoken and agreed to intensify trade negotiations, adding that all options were on the table if the United States implemented its latest tariff threat.

Trump, a long-time advocate of using tariffs to raise revenue and protect U.S. economic interests, last year announced U.S. tariffs. It has fueled new modern highs and tit-for-tat trade disputes with other countries, including Canada and China.

“Our Supreme Court has made these countries very happy, but as the Court noted, I have the absolute right to charge tariffs in another way, and I have already begun to do so,” he wrote. Real Social post On March 15, days after his administration launched Section 301 investigations.

Peter Harrell, a visiting scholar at the Institute of International Economic Law at Georgetown Law School, said: LinkedIn He said he expects the Trump administration will use its trade powers “to eventually reinstate most of the IEEPA tariff rates.”

Trade experts told CNBC that tariffs imposed in the wake of the forced labor investigation are likely to last a long time because of their stronger legal basis and the political risk that eliminating them would pose.

“It is much more difficult for a future presidential administration to roll back tariffs intended to help combat forced labor,” said Tiffany Smith, vice president for global trade policy at the National Trade Council. “I think you should expect 301 tariffs to be much more durable.”

“Politically, once these things are in place, it’s very difficult to reverse them,” said Harden, of Washington Council Ernst & Young.