The Trump administration is proposing new tariffs of 10 percent or more on imports from dozens of major trading partners, following an investigation into goods allegedly made with forced labour. A report released by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Wednesday identified Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and the United Kingdom among countries facing a 10 percent additional tariff for allegedly failing to enforce a forced-labour import ban.
A higher 12.5 percent additional tariff would be imposed on China, Japan, India, South Korea, Brazil, Switzerland and dozens of other countries. The tariffs are based on an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer said in a statement: “The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labour is unacceptable. This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.” He added that “each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labour globally.”
The new tariffs would not take effect immediately, as they are subject to public comment and review. The strategy would enable President Donald Trump to circumvent Supreme Court limits on his tariff powers. The report defined forced labour as “work or service exacted from a person under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily.”
The Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump had overstepped his authority by using a different law – the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 – to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
