The Trump administration has introduced a replacement for the 10% "global tariffs" that expired at midnight Thursday.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that the order applies to 60 leading trading partners and covers 99.4% of American imports.

The tariffs are imposed under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act and follow a months-long investigation into forced labor.

A senior administration official called the measure "the most sweeping action ever taken by the United States to protect international labor rights," downplaying the notion that it was simply a replacement for the expiring tariffs. "We're implementing this now to avoid complications," the official noted, adding that stable rates would be better for business.

According to the official notice in the Federal Register, the 12.5% ​​rate will affect partners from China and Australia to Egypt. Other economies, including the European Union, Indonesia, and Mexico, will receive a 10% rate.

The new tariffs include a number of exemptions—for goods in transit, as well as for goods covered by other trade agreements. Goods already subject to separate duties for national security reasons (in particular, steel and aluminum) will not be subject to double tariffs, and goods exempted by the USMCA will remain largely duty-free.

Certain goods are also exempt from the new tariffs to avoid economic disruption in the United States. These include major categories like oil and natural gas, as well as less significant goods not produced in the United States, such as cork from Europe. The official notice includes hundreds of pages of exemptions. The announcement marked the latest turn in the president's efforts to reintroduce tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down his blanket tariffs in February. The president had previously threatened 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods and 100% tariffs on generic drugs beginning in 2028.

"Our policy remains the same," U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer said at a congressional hearing. "The specific authority the administration is using has changed, but the trade strategy has not."

It appears these so-called Section 301 tariffs—a long-standing authority granting the president broad discretion to impose tariffs—will become the centerpiece of Trump's tariff policy for the rest of his term. They will replace the current 10% tariffs imposed in February under Section 122, which have a 150-day duration.

Some countries have seen rates change: India moved from 12.5% ​​to 10%, thanks to positive steps on the forced labor issue, according to the White House.

For many importers, rates will not change significantly. According to a recent estimate by the Yale Budget Lab, the overall effective tariff rate in the US was 11.8%, and the new duties will raise it by one to two percentage points.

However, this is not the end of Trump's new tariffs. The US is expected to raise rates further later this year once the investigation into structural excess capacity on goods from China, the EU, and 16 other partners is completed.

Simon McAdam of Capital Economics predicted in an analysis before the announcement that the upcoming excess capacity tariffs "will serve as additional duties to return the overall US tariff level" to levels prior to the February Supreme Court decision. An administration official described the president as seeking to maximize tariffs before the end of his term, conveying his message:

"I only have two and a half years left, and we need to address these unfair trade practices."