The US Trade Representative proposed 10–12.5% tariffs on 60 trading partners including the EU, UK, Canada, Australia and Taiwan, framing the levies around "forced labour" findings from a Section 301 unfair-trade investigation. The structure is designed to rebuild 
Donald Trump's tariff stack after the Supreme Court struck down many of his previous duties in February, the BBC reported. The Section 301 route is intended to give the president a court-resistant authority for the next round, per Al Jazeera's read.
Who's on the list? Sixty partners covering the UK, EU, Canada, Australia and Taiwan all feature in the proposal at 10–12.5% rates, the Guardian reported. The package threatens to unsettle countries that had only recently signed new bilateral trade deals or were still in active negotiations with Washington, Deutsche Welle reported.
Why the forced-labour framing? The Section 301 path lets USTR cite "unfair trade practices" and frame the levies as a remedy rather than as standalone protective tariffs — Al Jazeera's economy desk treated the forced-labour grounds as the record-builder the administration can lean on if the new tariffs are challenged in court, working around the February Supreme Court ruling.
Is this a separate proposal from Brazil 25%? The 60-partner 10–12.5% slate runs in parallel to the administration's separate 25% Brazil proposal from earlier in the week, with the Guardian reporting on both as distinct USTR moves. Brazil sat outside the Section 301 forced-labour basket and was justified on different "unreasonable trade practices" grounds against a partner with which the US runs a goods surplus.
What was the Supreme Court issue? The February ruling had struck down many of Trump's previous duties, leaving the administration without the tariff stack it had built in the first months of the term, the BBC reported. The Section 301 reconstruction is the administration's primary post-ruling vehicle for tariff policy.
How are partners reacting? Partners that had been negotiating in good faith now face a unilateral upward adjustment without a renegotiation lane, Deutsche Welle reported. European officials had been treating the post-February period as a partial reset on the trade-war front, with the new proposal reversing that read, per the Guardian's coverage.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
