New US duties take effect with broad list of exemptions UPDATED

The United States has excluded 471 product categories from a new round of tariffs that came into force on July 24, according to a document released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

The tariffs, set at rates ranging from 10% to 12.5%, apply to imports from 60 trading partners, including Russia, and took effect at 00:01 Eastern Time.

According to the USTR document, cited by Reuters, the exemptions cover a wide range of goods, particularly in agriculture, raw materials and industrial inputs. Items not subject to the new duties include certain seeds, vegetables, sugar and sugar-containing products, as well as animal hides and skins. Raw materials used in the production of fertilisers and pesticides, selected timber products, and instant coffee without additives are also excluded.

The exemptions extend to industrial and strategic materials, including vanadium oxides and hydroxides, pig iron, specific iron-bearing raw materials, and certain categories of aluminium scrap and waste, along with aluminium hydroxide. Ash containing precious metals and related compounds, selected battery scrap, and certain semiconductor manufacturing equipment are also listed among the excluded goods.

In addition, some pharmaceutical products and their ingredients are exempt, along with processed shells, second-hand clothing, and certain antiques, collectibles and works of art.

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The United States has imposed tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 major trading partners, following a determination by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) regarding enforcement failures in enforcing forced labour restrictions.

The measures were announced by the office of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, acting under the direction of President Donald Trump.

“Today, Ambassador Jamieson Greer took final action, at the direction of President Trump, in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) Section 301 Investigations into the Acts, Policies, and Practices of Various Economies Related to the Failure to Impose and Effectively Enforce a Prohibition on the Importation of Goods Produced with Forced Labor by imposing a 10% or 12.5% tariff on 60 trading partners, subject to certain product exemptions,” the statement said.

According to the USTR, a baseline tariff rate of 10% will apply to 17 countries that have already enacted bans on imports of goods produced using forced labour. These include Türkiye, China, the European Union, Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Israel, Qatar, India, Iraq, Canada and Mexico, among others.

For certain goods originating from the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland that do not qualify for exemptions, the tariff rate will be set at either 10% or 12.5%, adjusted downward by the applicable most-favoured-nation (MFN) tariff rates.

Meanwhile, the maximum base tariff rate will rise by 2.5 percentage points, to 12.5%, for the remaining economies covered by the investigation that have not met Washington’s conditions regarding enforcement measures.

The newly announced tariffs will replace the temporary global tariff rate of 10% that the Trump administration introduced in February.

By Tamilla Hasanova