Senator Wyden calls the forced-labor tariffs "a blatant attempt to revive Trump's illegal global tariffs under a different name"
Ron WydenRanking member of the Senate Finance Committee (Democrat of Oregon), in a committee press statement
In a July 24, 2026 statement, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden said the new Section 301 tariffs are "a blatant attempt to revive Trump's illegal global tariffs under a different name." He said they will keep inflation and prices high for Americans and do nothing to help workers around the world, and urged Congress to pass the bill he had introduced that week to limit presidential tariff authority.
Responding to
Learning Resources, Inc. and six other companies said in their August 24, 2026 motion that USTR's determinations are "pretextual and preordained" and that the administration has now tried to re-create "materially the same global tariff regime under three disparate statutes."
“This is a blatant attempt to revive Trump's illegal global tariffs under a different name. These latest tariffs will continue to keep inflation and prices high for Americans, and do nothing to help workers around the world”
Official statement
Official statement
Official statement
Where this statement fits
Are Trump's Section 301 "forced labor" tariffs a lawful remedy, or a pretext to revive struck-down global tariffs?
On July 23, 2026, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, at President Trump's direction, imposed additional tariffs of 10% or 12.5% on imports from 60 economies under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The duties took effect July 24. USTR says each economy failed to impose and effectively enforce a ban on imports of goods made with forced labor, which it found unreasonable and a burden on U.S. commerce. Businesses and 25 states sued in the Court of International Trade. They say the forced-labor rationale is a pretext for re-creating the global tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February, and that USTR skipped the country-by-country findings the statute requires. The Justice Department says USTR made findings for all 60 economies on a record of data, testimony and public comments. A three-judge panel heard argument on September 30, 2026. As of that date, no court had ruled on the Section 301 tariffs. The disputed question is whether the tariffs are a lawful remedy under Section 301 or a pretext to revive the struck-down global tariffs.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
A statement from Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden after the administration announced the Section 301 tariffs. He urges Congress to pass the bill he introduced that week to rein in presidential tariff authority.
Official statement
About this source
Wyden's letter to Greer on the proposal to impose 10% and 12.5% tariffs on 60 economies. He urges the administration to focus on enforcing the laws on the books against forced labor rather than use forced labor as a pretext for broad tariffs.
Official statement
About this source
Greer's prepared statement for the hearing the Senate Finance Committee held on July 22, 2026. Page 3 describes the forced-labor investigations and the proposed 10% and 12.5% duties. Page 1 says the specific authorities have changed but the trade strategy has not. The statement text is the PDF served at https://www.finance.senate.gov/download/07222026-greer-opening-statement&download=1; the archive copy captures only the download page. The committee's hearing page is https://www.finance.senate.gov/hearings/rescheduled-the-presidents-2026-trade-policy-agenda.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Wyden had written to Greer on July 9 that "Statements by Administration officials clearly indicate that this Section 301 action is merely an effort to reconstruct President Trump's global tariff regime after it was invalidated by the Supreme Court in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump." The statement followed USTR's announcement of the final action.
After the quotation
Wyden's statement says the Section 301 tariffs replace the temporary 10 percent tariffs imposed after the Supreme Court ruling. Greer, in his July 22 statement to the same committee, described the forced-labor investigations as a way to incentivize other countries to act. As of September 30, 2026, no court had ruled.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to the Section 301 forced-labor tariffs, Wyden says they revive tariffs he calls illegal under a new name and do nothing for workers, an express rejection of both the tariffs and their stated rationale. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization, because he disputes the forced-labor framing, but he also condemns the tariffs themselves.
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More from this case
Read the full caseFormer trade officials Hills, Wolff and Maruyama tell the court the administration is turning "targeted authority" into "a sweeping power"
“This case concerns the Executive Branch's attempt to transform that targeted authority into a sweeping power to impose broad, economy-wide tariffs untethered from the statute Congress enacted. The text, structure, and history of Section 301 demonstrate that Congress intended the provision to address specific foreign acts, policies, or practices identified through a meaningful investigation and supported by findings of harm to U.S. commerce.”Read statement
Justice Department brief says USTR's actions are "consistent with the text, object, and purpose of the Section 301 statute"
United States Department of Justice
“The actions that USTR has taken at the direction of the President in this case are consistent with the text, object, and purpose of the Section 301 statute, as well as with the President's firm commitment to create a level playing field for U.S. workers, producers, and exporters by conditioning access to the U.S. market on concrete action to prohibit international trade in forced labor goods. The investigations and responsive actions under Section 301 are the culmination of decades of efforts by the U.S. Government to eradicate forced labor from international supply chains. USTR followed Section 301's "demanding procedural prerequisites" when taking those actions.”Read statement
Learning Resources and six other plaintiffs say the government's determinations are "pretextual and preordained"
Learning Resources, Inc.
“To be clear, Plaintiffs do not condone reliance on forced labor or forced-labor imports. But that is not the real issue here. Defendants' pretextual and preordained determinations do not satisfy the statutory requirements of Section 301 or the applicable Administrative Procedure Act ("APA") standards. The charade must stop.”Read statement
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- Senator Wyden calls the forced-labor tariffs "a blatant attempt to revive Trump's illegal global tariffs under a different name"
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The Dispute Index. "Senator Wyden calls the forced-labor tariffs "a blatant attempt to revive Trump's illegal global tariffs under a different name"". First published: 2026-10-01. Last updated: 2026-10-01. https://disputeindex.com/events/3966-in-a-july-24-2026-statement-senate-finance