The July 2026 Section 301 Forced-Labor Tariffs, Explained for Importers

On July 24, 2026 — the same moment the temporary Section 122 global tariff hit its 150-day statutory limit and expired — the US Trade Representative imposed new tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, concluding 60 parallel investigations opened in March 2026 into whether trading partners impose and enforce prohibitions on the importation of goods made with forced labor. The official notice is 91 FR 47318 (Jul 28, 2026).

The logic of the two rates

Economies that have a forced-labor import prohibition (or credible commitments toward one, for example through an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade) were assigned 10%; every other investigated economy was assigned 12.5%. For five economies the rate is applied as a cap on the total duty rather than a flat add-on: the EU and Taiwan top up to 10% total, and Japan, Korea, and Switzerland top up to 12.5% total — so a product whose MFN rate already meets the cap pays no additional 301 duty at all.

What's exempt

• All articles subject to Section 232 tariffs (steel, aluminum, copper, and other 232 products) — the anti-stacking rule.
• Annex I / II goods: certain raw materials with no adequate domestic supply, products whose taxation could cause economy-wide disruption, goods that cannot be grown or produced in the US, informational materials, donations, and accompanied baggage.
• A later modification (effective July 31, 2026) added patented pharmaceutical articles to the exemption headings.

What it means in practice

For a typical consumer-goods importer, landed cost went up by 10–12.5 points of customs value overnight on July 24 — unless the product is 232-listed, Annex-exempt, or from an economy whose MFN rate already exceeds the cap. The differences between those cases are worth real money: on a $50,000 shipment, the gap between "exempt" and "12.5% flat" is $6,250 per entry.