U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday signaled another round of President Donald Trump’s tariffs is on the way.
“We expect to see some action soon,” Greer told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked if new tariffs are forthcoming, in light of an FT report that more duties could be announced as soon as this week.
“I can’t really specify a timeline right now. I have responsibility to brief Congress and other stakeholders before I really reveal that kind of thing,” Greer noted.
“But we do expect action soon,” he added.
The comments suggest that the Trump administration could be poised to implement new tariffs just as some of Trump’s other import levies are set to lapse Friday.
Trump in February imposed a blanket 10% tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, hours after the Supreme Court struck down his sweeping “liberation day” tariff regime. The Section 122 tariffs will expire at 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday unless Congress intervenes, which it appears unlikely to do.
But the Trump administration has already taken steps to shore up its tariff regime.
In early June, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative proposed more tariffs of up to 12.5% on imports from 60 economies. The new duties, brought under another section of the 1974 trade law known as Section 301, would be imposed in response to alleged forced-labor issues.
“The U.S. has laws to prohibit trading goods with forced labor,” Greer said in Tuesday’s interview. “Other countries, most don’t have a law. Those that do don’t really enforce it.”
Greer said that the proposed 301 tariffs on 60 countries would cover “about 99% of our trade.”
“That actually illustrates the scale of the problem we’re facing,” he said.
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