Can Trump's latest tariff plan on 60 countries stick?

**Andrew Peach** (0:00)
A new legal basis for US tariffs.

**Jameson Greer** (0:03)
Many countries did not have laws to prevent trade in goods made with forced labor.

**Deborah Elms** (0:09)
All 60 trading partners were found guilty as charged, and therefore tariffs to be imposed.

**Andrew Peach** (0:14)
It's World Business Report from the BBC World Service.
This is Andrew Peach on the way. Reaction to those additional tariffs for alleged failures to act against forced labor. Also today, internal documents obtained by the BBC show the British oil giant Shell continue to operate a major pipeline in southern Nigeria, even though it knew it was causing widespread pollution. And why Michelle Obama says younger workers need to experience bad bosses and boring jobs.
First, a lot of reaction to that threat of new tariffs from the Trump White House. The US is planning to impose new import taxes of at least 10% on imports from 60 different trading partners, including the European Union, Brazil and Mexico. The Trump administration says the new tariffs follow an investigation into the use of forced labor in supply chains. Here's the US Trade Representative, Jameson Greer, on France 24

**Jameson Greer** (1:17)
After doing an investigation, he found that many countries either did not have laws to prevent trade in goods made with forced labor, or if they did have the laws, they weren't effectively enforcing them. This is an unfair trading practice we think distorts global trade and we want to take care of it.

**Andrew Peach** (1:33)
The EU called the move unjustified. Brazil's president called it unacceptable. Deborah Elms is the head of trade policy at the Henrik Foundation in Singapore. She told our colleagues on World Business Express why these taxes on imports into the US could stick where other Trump tariffs ended up being struck down by American courts.

**Deborah Elms** (1:52)
I think the biggest argument is that they've been used before. This tool in particular, section 301, was used very heavily in the 70s, 80s and 90s. But it's continued to be in use under the first Trump administration and even into Biden. So I think it has a track record. Whereas the tariff authorities that Trump used early in his second term were new and they had never been intended to be used in this way. And of course, the Supreme Court struck the first one down. The second one is just temporary. But there's a court case that's already ruled against that as well. And so turning to more durable, longer lasting authorities, I think is important for this administration. They've said, do you have a law or a regulation that prevents the importation of products made with forced labor? And the answer to that question is, for the most part, no, in part, because it's very difficult to do. But if you do have a law, do you enforce it effectively? And so between those two ways to look at this, do you have a law? Do you force it effectively?
All 60 trading partners were found guilty as charged. They either don't have a law or they don't enforce it effectively. And therefore, tariffs to be imposed range from 10% to 12.5%.

**Andrew Peach** (2:56)
Well, I've been talking to Stefan Brubacher, who's the CEO of Swissmem. Now, this is an organization which represents a whole load of companies who operate in the high-tech precision manufacturing sector in Switzerland. So how could this threat of new tariffs disrupt trade into the US?

**Stefan Brubacher** (3:14)
The type of machines the US industry needs in the automotive, in the aerospace, in the space industry, without which you just can't work.

**Andrew Peach** (3:25)
And a lot of these things only are made in Switzerland. That's the point here, isn't it? It's not like you can go, well, we'll just get it somewhere else. A lot of these things really only come from Switzerland.

**Stefan Brubacher** (3:35)
These are highly specialized niche companies, niche market companies, which have, for example, 100, 200, 300, or 400 people, employees, and it just doesn't make economic sense to set up shop in the US if you have only two, three, or 400 employees. Above all, because in the US, you don't find the same qualification of labor. And this is the biggest advantage in Switzerland, qualified mechanical labor or engineers, which you just don't have in the US in the same amount.

**Andrew Peach** (4:10)
I suppose people might say, well, there was a lot of talk about this. Tariffs were introduced. Switzerland is still standing. Its economy hasn't fallen apart at this stage.

**Stefan Brubacher** (4:20)
Well, I think we all knew that most probably the 39% tariff would not last forever.
But it was really something which hit our companies very, very hard. Mechanic, machine tool industry, they exported between 20 and 40% less for the three months during which we had the 39% tariffs. Now it's again much better. Our companies are extremely resilient. Mostly, they are family owned and that creates a certain financial cushion, a certain long term view and a huge resilience. But every amount of resilience has a certain limit.