On June 2, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) proposed tariffs ranging from 10–12.5 percent on 86 countries representing more than 99 percent of U.S. imports, based on its findings in a Section 301 investigation. In new research, Trade Policy Analyst Jacob Jensen breaks down the Section 301 process and estimates the costs of the latest Trump Administration tariff regime compared to past iterations.

Key points:

• This Section 301 investigation into countries’ “Failure to Impose and Effectively Enforce a Prohibition on the Importation of Goods Produced with Forced Labor” – coupled with additional 301 investigations – signals that the Trump Administration is gearing up to establish a new tariff regime once the current Section 122 tariffs expire on July 24.
• This research finds that although the Trump Administration has continually carved out tariff exemptions, the newly proposed Section 301 tariffs will cost U.S. businesses and consumers close to $60 billion a year.
• The proposed Section 301 tariffs nearly replicate the overall cost of the Section 122 tariff regime while slightly increasing exempted imports and shifting around the country-by-country tariff burden.

Read the analysis.