WASHINGTON D.C.: U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff measures signal a shift toward a more durable trade strategy, with his administration relying on long-established trade laws to rebuild tariffs that officials and analysts say are likely to withstand legal challenges and expand in the months ahead.

After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an early push to impose sweeping tariffs under emergency powers, Trump's team is now using more established trade laws to pursue many of the same objectives.

The latest round of duties — tariffs of 10 percent or 12.5 percent on imports from 60 countries over alleged failures to enforce forced-labor bans — is expected to be followed by additional trade actions targeting excess industrial capacity, alleged intellectual property theft by Vietnam, and protections for strategic industries including semiconductors, robotics and industrial machinery.

"We're at the end of the beginning of the Trump tariff agenda," said Dan Ujczo, associate general counsel at Canadian oil producer Cenovus Energy, who specializes in U.S.-Canada trade. "Within the next few weeks, and certainly by the end of the summer, we will see large parts of President Trump's trade policy fully in effect."

The shift could give businesses greater clarity over the administration's long-term tariff structure, while increasing pressure on trading partners seeking to preserve access to the US$3.4 trillion U.S. import market.

Trump's new forced-labor duties were imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the same statute used against China during his first term. According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the new duties cover 99.4 percent of U.S. imports and largely replace a temporary 10 percent global tariff that expired on July 24.

The move also restores part of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff program, which imposed duties of between 10 percent and 50 percent on nearly every country before the Supreme Court ruled that the emergency law used to justify them exceeded presidential authority.

The administration is also expected to use another Section 301 investigation into excess industrial capacity to rebuild additional tariffs affecting 16 major trading partners, including China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Vietnam.

Some businesses said the latest measures largely matched expectations.

Mark Bissell, chief executive of Michigan-based vacuum maker Bissell Inc, said the company had not rushed to build inventory because it anticipated tariffs would remain within their current range. "We continued to run the business based on the belief that the tariffs would stay in the 10-15 percent range," Bissell said in an email to Reuters.

Trump's tariff strategy has also generated significant revenue for the U.S. government, although refunds tied to court rulings have reduced some collections. Analysts say the growing reliance on tariffs could make them a lasting feature of U.S. fiscal policy.

"The tariff wall is being rebuilt strong brick by strong brick, and it's very durable," said Josh Lipsky, chair of international economics at the Atlantic Council.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told lawmakers this week that while the administration had changed the legal authorities it was using, its overall trade strategy remained unchanged.

"The specific authorities this administration is using have changed, but the trade strategy has not," Greer told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Greer said tariff levels rebuilt under ongoing investigations would remain within caps negotiated in recent trade agreements, including 15 percent for the European Union, Japan and South Korea, while China would remain subject to the roughly 20 percent ceiling agreed by Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last November, in addition to tariffs imposed during Trump's first term.

Despite the administration's effort to place tariffs on firmer legal footing, trade experts say Trump's willingness to announce new duties unexpectedly remains a source of uncertainty for businesses.

"Trump's eagerness to impose tariffs to address a whole range of grievances will not only continue disrupting the global trading system but will have significant adverse effects on American households and businesses," said Eswar Prasad, a trade professor at Cornell University and former head of the International Monetary Fund's China department.