MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Overnight, two big things happened to U.S. tariffs.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yeah, one major import tax expired. President Trump had put that in place after the Supreme Court struck down other tariffs earlier this year. The minute that major tariff expired, it was essentially replaced with a new set covering dozens of countries.
MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben is covering this. Good morning, Danielle.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So break down these tariffs for us.
KURTZLEBEN: Sure. So, yesterday, the administration announced that it is imposing tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on 59 countries, plus the European Union. The administration said it's because those economies are importing goods made with forced labor. And these are blanket tariffs in a sense. The U.S. trade representative has said this covers countries responsible for more than 99% of U.S. imports. Now, all that said, some big categories like energy and a lot of foods are going to be exempted. These new tariffs, they started at midnight, the exact same time that a 10% global tariff expired.
MARTIN: So is the administration saying that's just a coincidence that they happen to be replacing one tariff for another with a completely different legal justification?
KURTZLEBEN: No. A senior administration official not authorized to speak on the record told reporters that, yes, the administration has long cared about forced labor, but they timed it this way to keep things simple for businesses. I will add, though, that not everyone sees this as a good-faith effort at improving labor practices. Here was Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden at a hearing this week.
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RON WYDEN: Trump's next trade scheme is ordering USTR to reconstruct his illegal global tariffs under the guise of addressing forced labor.
KURTZLEBEN: And really, it's noteworthy that here, the administration is saying that no other country, not even its biggest trading partner, is doing enough to fight forced labor.
MARTIN: You know, one of the biggest criticisms of President Trump's tariffs before that Supreme Court ruling was that there was so much uncertainty that he could come up with new tariffs at his whim. Is there more certainty now?
KURTZLEBEN: Somewhat. For many tariffs the administration is proposing, the process is slower. These new tariffs are the result of a monthslong investigation into whether other countries subject the U.S. to unfair competition. That said, he still can make some quick decisions. This week, he signed proclamations imposing new 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods to start just under a month from now. And that means, by the way, that it's still possible in that time that the two countries will negotiate all or some of those tariffs away.
Now, altogether, there's just still a lot of complexity here, with all these new tariffs happening under a variety of different laws. And they're on top of existing tariffs on things like aluminum and lumber and semiconductors, and on individual countries like Brazil. One other thing is that still more tariffs could be coming. There's another investigation into more than a dozen countries in the EU. The administration says they may be manufacturing unfairly, for example, by overproducing.
MARTIN: So now I have to bring the politics into it because...
KURTZLEBEN: Of course.
MARTIN: ...In the U.S., you know, midterm elections are not that far away. Do these tariffs make sense politically?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, poll after poll shows that Americans don't like the tariffs and that their approval of the president on the economy has fallen. But whether or not Americans like them, we know the president likes tariffs. He sees them as a way to strong-arm other countries during trade negotiations, and his administration maintains that tariffs will have long-term economic benefits. Now, plenty of economists would dispute that. But all in all, these are a gamble. They're asking voters to weigh a policy they might not like against what might happen in the future.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben. Danielle, thank you.
KURTZLEBEN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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