{"text":[[{"start":7.3,"text":"Donald Trump issued a barrage of trade actions this week as his administration tried to reimpose new tariffs on trading partners after America’s top court struck down the president’s duties."}],[{"start":18.25,"text":"US trade officials proposed hitting Brazil with tariffs of 25 per cent, opened a probe into trade with Vietnam and unveiled proposals to impose duties of between 10 per cent and 12.5 per cent on more than 60 countries, including the EU, over forced labour laws. "}],[{"start":35.2,"text":"The US is also working on a probe into industrial overcapacity and subsidies that, once completed, could hit a range of countries with levies. This week, it asked businesses to comment on its new plans to manage trade with China. "}],[{"start":48.85,"text":"Since the Supreme Court barred the use of emergency powers to impose tariffs in February, Trump has been prevented from issuing immediate levies through social media and has had to rely on older laws that require public consultation and published reports."}],[{"start":63.650000000000006,"text":"Peter Harrell, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University who worked in Joe Biden’s White House, described the law under which most of the new tariffs were being proposed as a “process-heavy statute”."}],[{"start":74.95,"text":"“They can’t just come out and announce that, as of tomorrow, here’s what the tariffs are,” said Harrell. “They have to engage in fact finding. For some of what they’re doing . . . [they have] concluded the fact finding, and then they have to provide some notice and comment on the proposed tariffs.”"}],[{"start":90.5,"text":"But Trump’s trade officials are racing to complete investigations ahead of a late July deadline by which time the president must impose new tariffs on trading partners if he wants to maintain the high levies that have served as his flagship economic policy. "}],[{"start":104.45,"text":"On that date, the stopgap tariffs that were swiftly imposed following the Supreme Court ruling expire. The law used to impose them — known as Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — only enables them to be applied for a 150-day period."}],[{"start":121.80000000000001,"text":"“This is a blatant effort to substitute for the expiring 122 tariffs,” said Edward Alden at the Council on Foreign Relations."}],[{"start":130.5,"text":"Although many foreign officials believe that the US will maintain the same tariff rates that were agreed through a series of trade deals struck between Washington and its trading partners last year, some are concerned the administration will boost their duties to higher levels."}],[{"start":146,"text":"The administration has had to balance the president’s desire to hit allies with large tariffs against its efforts to control a growing inflation and affordability problem ahead of November’s midterm elections."}],[{"start":157.55,"text":"This week, they cut tariffs imposed on some farm and industrial machinery as they sought to protect American farmers and manufacturers from high costs. "}],[{"start":167.15,"text":"The administration reduced levies on some farm equipment, bulldozers and forklift trucks to 15 per cent from 25 per cent. "}],[{"start":174.95000000000002,"text":"The new duties under consideration on 60 countries have been launched under Section 301 of the 1974 Act, which US officials hope will be more legally durable than the “liberation day” tariffs. "}],[{"start":188.20000000000002,"text":"However, Harrell warned there could still be legal challenges. “On the one hand, courts have upheld the use of Section 301 to impose even fairly serious tariffs in the past, including on China from Trump’s term one.”"}],[{"start":202.50000000000003,"text":"“On the other hand, Section 301 has never been used this way before. If you look at past 301s they’ve been focused on one or a handful of countries.”"}],[{"start":213.80000000000004,"text":"Alden said that if the administration found the new laws could be used to impose duties safe from legal challenge, they might order more investigations. "}],[{"start":222.85000000000005,"text":"“I think we have to anticipate that the current round of 301s is not necessarily the end of the story,” Alden said."}],[{"start":229.35000000000005,"text":"The administration also issued a notice inviting businesses to comment on its so-called Board of Trade with China, as it tries to manage relations with the world’s second-largest economy."}],[{"start":239.95000000000005,"text":"US trade representative Jamieson Greer told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that the US would be willing to reduce tariffs on some Chinese goods."}],[{"start":257.1,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780753902_5038.mp3"}