Trump's Tariffs on 60 Countries Adopt Method Justice Brett Kavanaugh Laid Out in SCOTUS Ruling

Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images The tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed on 60 countries Thursday night utilize one of the mechanisms that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh laid out in the dissent of February’s Supreme Court ruling striking down Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs. Trump imposed the latest tariffs, ranging from 10-12.5 percent, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. They follow an investigation under Section 301 finding failure to prevent the importation of goods as a result of forced labor in the respective countries. Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 is one of the pathways forward that Kavanaugh highlighted in the dissent when the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s worldwide International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which he imposed on April 2, 2025. Kavanaugh wrote: Although I firmly disagree with the Court’s holding today, the decision might not substantially constrain a President’s ability to order tariffs going forward. That is because numerous other federal statutes authorize the President to impose tariffs and might justify most (if not all) of the tariffs at issue in this case — albeit perhaps with a few additional procedural steps that IEEPA, as an emergency statute, does not require. Those statutes include, for example, the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232); the Trade Act of 1974 (Sections 122, 201, and 301); and the Tariff Act of 1930 (Section 338). In essence, the Court today concludes that the President checked the wrong statutory box by relying on IEEPA rather than another statute to impose these tariffs. The rate for each country is as follows, per Trump’s memorandum: Algeria: 12.5 percent Angola: 12.5 percent Argentina: 10 percent Australia: 12.5 percent The Bahamas: 12.5 percent Bahrain: 12.5 percent Bangladesh: 10 percent Brazil: 12.5 percent Cambodia: 10 percent Canada: 10 percent Chile: 12.5 percent China, People’s Republic of Colombia: 12.5 percent Costa Rica: 12.5 percent Dominican Republic: 12.5 percent Ecuador: 10 percent Egypt: 12.5 percent El Salvador: 10 percent European Union: 10-12.5 percent Guatemala: 10 percent Guyana: 12.5 percent Honduras: 10 percent Hong Kong, China India: 10 percent Indonesia: 10 percent Iraq: 12.5 percent Israel: 12.5 percent Japan: 10-12.5 percent Jordan: 10 percent Kazakhstan: 12.5 percent Kuwait: 12.5 percent Libya: 12.5 percent Malaysia: 10 percent Mexico: 10 percent Morocco: 12.5 percent New Zealand: 12.5 percent Nicaragua: 12.5 percent Nigeria: 12.5 percent Norway: 12.5 percent Oman: 12.5 percent Pakistan: 10 percent Peru: 12.5 percent Philippines: 12.5 percent Qatar: 12.5 percent Russia: 12.5 percent Saudi Arabia: 12.5 percent Singapore: 12.5 percent South Africa: 12.5 percent South Korea: 10-12.5 percent Sri Lanka: 10 percent Switzerland: 10-12.5 percent Taiwan: 10-12.5 percent Thailand: 12.5 percent Trinidad and Tobago: 10 percent Türkiye: 12.5 percent United Arab Emirates United Kingdom: 10 percent Uruguay: 12.5 percent Venezuela: 12.5 percent Vietnam: 12.5 percent On February 20, hours after the court struck down his IEEPA tariffs, Trump said he would keep all Section 301 and Section 232 tariffs in place and launch additional Section 301 investigations. Those investigations commenced on March 12.