US Trade Representative Jameson Greer signaled on Tuesday that another round of President Donald Trump’s tariffs is on the way.
When asked if new tariffs were coming, Greer told CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” “We expect to see some action soon.” More charges could be announced as soon as this week, the FT reports.
Greer said, “I can’t really specify a timeline right now. I have a responsibility to brief Congress and other stakeholders before I actually disclose that kind of thing.”
“But we expect action soon,” he said.
The comments suggest the Trump administration may be ready to impose new tariffs, just as some of Trump’s other import tariffs are set to expire on Friday.
Trump in February imposed a 10% tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, hours after the Supreme Court struck down his sweeping “Emancipation Day” tariff ruling. The Section 122 tariffs will expire at 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday unless Congress intervenes, which appears unlikely to do.
But the Trump administration has already taken steps to strengthen its tariff regime.
In early June, the Office of the US Trade Representative proposed higher tariffs of up to 12.5% on imports from 60 economies. The new duties, introduced under another section of the 1974 trade law, known as Section 301, would be imposed in response to alleged forced-labor issues.
“There are laws in the U.S. prohibiting the trade of goods with forced labor,” Greer said in a Tuesday interview. “In other countries, most don’t have any laws. The ones that do don’t really enforce it.”
Greer said the proposed 301 tariffs on 60 countries would cover “about 99% of our trade.”
“It really shows the scale of the problem we’re facing,” he said.
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