IP Law Daily, VITAL BRIEFING—Tariff politics heat up with new Brazil, Canada, global levies, (Jul 24, 2026)
Despite setbacks on the international trade battlefield, including the Supreme Court striking down the government’s tariff framework in February, the Trump administration and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer have demonstrated that they are ready to pursue President Trump’s America First tariff objectives with gusto.
In this installment of Tariff Insights, Thomas Thompson catalogues a number of recent developments that reflect the Trump administration’s unyielding commitment to stay the course in executing a trade strategy that involves across-the-board tariffs imposed against major U.S. trading partners, as well as a willingness to mete out punitive measures to trade counterparts when it sees fit.
Some of the matters Thompson explores in the article include:
The announcement of a 50 percent tariff on targeted imports from Canada, which relied on the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, premised on a claim of Canada’s discriminatory treatment of American products.
Findings from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) that 60 trading partners that account for 99 percent of trade with the U.S., had either inadequate legal provisions or defective processes with respect to sufficiently guarding against importing goods from other countries that were created by forced labor. These findings provided the basis for the USTR proposing tariff rates of between 10 percent and 12 percent on each country.
A look at who assumes tariff burdens. A study from the Kiel Institute of Germany, which examined 2025 U.S. imports, determined that foreign exporters absorbed only about 4 percent of the tariff burden, while the remaining 96 percent was passed through to U.S. buyers.
To read the piece, click on Tariff politics heat up with new Brazil, Canada, global levies.
News: IndustryNewsTrends