By NAN Business Editor, NewsAmericas Now
News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. July 24, 2026: US President Trump is imposing new tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners, including four Caribbean nations, after determining they have failed to adequately enforce bans on imports made with forced labor.
The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Guyana will face a 12.5% tariff, while Trinidad and Tobago will face a 10% tariff, under action U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced Thursday. The new tariffs apply to 60 economies in total, accounting for 99% of U.S. imports, and take effect as temporary 10% worldwide tariffs Trump had imposed under a separate authority expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday.
“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” Greer said in a statement. “Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere.”
Ironically, all four countries have signed on to Trump’s Shield of the Americas, and Trinidad and Tobago in particular has been front and center in its support of the US amid angst with other CARICOM nations. Guyana last week saw the US State Department host an investment forum to push American businesses to invest there.
Why these tariffs, and why now
The administration is invoking Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a more durable legal authority than the emergency powers Trump previously used to justify sweeping global tariffs. The Supreme Court struck down those earlier tariffs earlier this year, ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize them and forcing the administration to refund duties already collected. Trump had then relied on temporary Section 122 tariffs, which are capped at 150 days by law and expire Friday. Section 301, by contrast, allows the president to impose tariffs against countries found to engage in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” trade practices, and has previously survived legal challenges when used against China.
The forced labor investigation began in March, when USTR opened probes into 60 economies’ enforcement of import bans on goods made with forced labor. Following two rounds of public hearings and more than 2,100 public comments, USTR determined 54 of those economies, including all four Caribbean nations named, have failed to impose and effectively enforce such a ban. A separate group of six economies, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union, were found to have failed to effectively enforce a ban they do have in place.
Oil, gas, fertilizer and goods qualifying for duty-free status under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement are exempt from the new tariffs.
What it means for the Caribbean
The tariffs add a new layer of economic pressure on four Caribbean economies already navigating a complex relationship with Washington on trade, security and investment. Guyana in particular has been the subject of an intensifying US commercial courtship in recent months, with American officials publicly pushing to position US companies to lead the country’s energy and infrastructure sectors even as this new tariff adds friction to its broader trade relationship with Washington.
Human rights advocates offered mixed reactions to the broader tariff action. Martina Vandenberg, founder and president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center, said import bans can be “a potentially effective tool in combating forced labor across the globe,” but urged a phased approach so countries have time to build enforcement mechanisms, warning that without it, “the import bans will be thin slips of paper with no enforcement.” Isabelle Glimcher, a senior research scientist for global labor at the NYU Stern Center for Human Rights, noted the tariffs are structured around what countries import rather than what they produce domestically, though she said the threat of tariffs has already pushed some countries to strengthen their own forced labor import policies.
Tariffs are ultimately paid by the US companies importing the goods, costs that are often passed on to American consumers, and the administration is rolling out the new levies just months ahead of the November midterm elections.
NewsAmericasNow will continue tracking how the new tariffs affect trade between the US and the Caribbean.