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By Tony | July 23, 2026
On February 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered what appeared to be a fatal blow to President Donald Trump's trade agenda. In a 6-3 decision in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) — the legal backbone of Trump's sweeping "Liberation Day" reciprocal tariffs — does not authorize the president to impose tariffs at all.
Five months later, the White House isn't retreating. It's rebuilding.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer made that unmistakably clear in a CNBC "Squawk Box" interview on July 21, 2026. "We expect to see some action soon," Greer said when asked whether new tariffs were coming. "I can't really specify a timeline right now... but we do expect action soon."
The message: the Trump administration is methodically reconstructing its protectionist trade architecture using older, more legally durable authorities — and the next wave could arrive this week.
To understand where things are going, you have to understand where they broke.
In April 2025, Trump declared "Liberation Day," imposing individualized tariff rates on virtually every U.S. trading partner through IEEPA, a 1977 law originally designed to give presidents emergency economic powers during national security crises. The tariffs triggered immediate market panic, were paused within days, and spent the next ten months bouncing between delay, reimposition, and further delay.
On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ended the experiment. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for a 6-3 majority, declared that IEEPA "does not authorize the President to impose tariffs." The ruling wiped out the majority of U.S. tariff revenue collected in 2025.
Trump raged against the decision. But within hours, he had already deployed a stopgap: a blanket 10% tariff on all imports under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a temporary authority with a strict 150-day clock.
That clock runs out Friday, July 24, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. ET.
The Trump administration isn't waiting for Congress to extend the Section 122 tariffs. Instead, USTR has been building a replacement framework since March — one designed to survive court scrutiny.
In early June, USTR formally proposed tariffs of up to 12.5% on imports under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, targeting 60 economies with the justification of combating forced labor in global supply chains. According to Greer, these proposed duties would cover "about 99% of our trade."
The 16 economies identified in USTR's trade investigations include: China, the European Union, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Japan, and India.
"The U.S. has laws to prohibit trading goods with forced labor," Greer told CNBC. "Other countries, most don't have a law. Those that do don't really enforce it."
Trade experts see this as a strategic pivot. Unlike IEEPA tariffs — which the Supreme Court struck down as an overreach — Section 301 tariffs imposed for forced labor reasons sit on substantially stronger legal ground. They're also politically difficult to undo.
"It's much harder for a future presidential administration to roll back tariffs that are intended to help combat forced labor," Tiffany Smith, vice president of global trade policy at the National Foreign Trade Council, told CNBC.
Blake Harden, a trade policy expert at Washington Council Ernst & Young, put it bluntly: "We're really seeing a re-creation of that global tariff, and 301 being used as a way to lock that in."
The administration isn't waiting for the global framework to take shape. It's already hitting individual nations:
On July 20, 2026, Trump signed three proclamations invoking Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 — a nearly century-old authority that has rarely been used — to impose 50% tariffs on Canadian goods including dairy products, alcoholic beverages, and motor vehicles. These take effect August 19, 2026, covering roughly $20 billion in Canadian imports.
The justification: alleged trade discrimination. Greer specifically called out Canada's two-tiered dairy quota system — one set of rules for Europe, a different, more restrictive one for the United States. He also cited provincial bans on U.S. product sales and caps on American automobile imports.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the tariffs a direct violation of the USMCA. He and Trump have agreed to intensify negotiations, but Carney said "all options are on the table" if the tariffs are enforced.
Brazil now faces 25% tariffs on most of its goods under Section 301, concluding a yearlong investigation into what Washington calls unfair trade practices — including policies affecting digital trade, intellectual property rights, and ethanol markets.
An additional, separate Section 301 forced-labor inquiry against Brazil could push total tariff exposure to 37.5% , with a ruling expected by July 24.
The trade policy community is watching a slow-motion "Liberation Day 2.0" unfold. The key difference this time: legal durability.
Peter Harrell, a visiting scholar at Georgetown Law School's Institute of International Economic Law, said he expects the administration "to eventually restore most of the IEEPA tariff rates" through these alternative authorities.
The forced-labor framing is particularly clever from a legal standpoint. It provides a humanitarian justification that courts are likely to respect, and it creates a political trap for any future administration seeking to normalize trade relations — rolling back "anti-forced-labor" tariffs would be a politically toxic move.
Meanwhile, the administration is pulling from every statutory lever available: Section 301 for unfair trade practices and forced labor, Section 338 for discriminatory treatment, and parallel investigations into excess manufacturing capacity.
The Section 122 blanket 10% tariffs expire Friday. Without congressional intervention — which appears unlikely — importers will face a changed landscape.
The most probable near-term scenario, according to reports from Reuters: the administration announces new Section 301 tariffs matching the current 10% level, while maintaining parallel investigations that could justify steeper rates later.
The 60-country forced labor tariffs could transform U.S. trade policy for years to come. As Harden noted: "Politically, it's very hard to walk these things back once they're in place."
For global markets, the message from USTR Greer is unmistakable: the Supreme Court may have closed one door, but the Trump administration is opening several more — and they're being built to last.
This article is based on reporting from CNBC, Reuters, Quartz, the White House, USTR, and analysis from trade law experts at Holland & Knight, Ropes & Gray, and other sources. Published July 23, 2026.