Trump Swaps Out Tariffs for Even More Tariffs

World Brief FP’s flagship daily , catching you up on 24 hours of news in five minutes. Foreign leaders accuse the White House of using forced labor allegations as a smokescreen for protectionist measures. An illustration of Alexandra Sharp, World Brief writer Alexandra Sharp , the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington on July 22. Andrew Harnik/ July 24, 2026, PM Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the latest U. S. protectionist measures, Argentina endorsing Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate, and a new seat of power in the United Kingdom. President Donald Trump’s trade war is back in full swing. On Friday, the White House imposed sweeping tariffs on 60 U. S. trading partners, including China and the European Union, igniting fierce condemnation from foreign leaders. Although Washington claims that the duties—which range from 10 percent to 12.5 percent—are to punish countries for failing to crack down on forced labor, many argue that these allegations are merely a thinly veiled strategy to reimpose levies that the Supreme Court struck down months ago. Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the latest U. S. protectionist measures, Argentina endorsing Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate, and a new seat of power in the United Kingdom. President Donald Trump’s trade war is back in full swing. On Friday, the White House imposed sweeping tariffs on 60 U. S. trading partners, including China and the European Union, igniting fierce condemnation from foreign leaders. Although Washington claims that the duties—which range from 10 percent to 12.5 percent—are to punish countries for failing to crack down on forced labor, many argue that these allegations are merely a thinly veiled strategy to reimpose levies that the Supreme Court struck down months ago. “Lacking a legal basis under domestic law to support its protectionist trade policy, the U. Trade Representative chose ‌to ⁠manipulate an issue of great importance to human rights and workers’ rights movement,” Brazil’s government said in a statement. Friday’s duties were established under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act. They replace a temporary global 10 percent levy that expired at a. m. that same day; those tariffs were issued in February mere hours after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump lacked the authority to issue his initial tranche of duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.