According to a report published on Wednesday morning by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), additional duties due to alleged failure to comply with the ban on the import of goods manufactured using forced labor will be imposed on, among others, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Additional duty of 12.5%. will in turn be imposed on China, Japan, India, South Korea, Brazil and Switzerland, among dozens of other countries.
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USA on the problem of forced labor: it is unacceptable
The head of USTR, Jamieson Greer, said in a statement that the most important trading partners of the USA have not solved the problem of importing goods produced using forced labor. “This is unacceptable. This creates a situation in which American workers are forced to compete globally on unequal terms,” said Jamieson Greer. “We will no longer tolerate this disproportion,” he added.
USTR said the lower rate would be imposed on goods from economies that have banned the import of goods derived from forced labor or have committed to doing so. Those that “did not introduce prohibitions and did not enforce them effectively” will be subject to a higher rate. The office cited estimates from the UN International Labor Organization, according to which 27.6 million people were employed in forced labor in 2021.
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Beijing denied the US allegations and criticized Trump's move. Japan, for its part, said Tokyo officials are in close contact with their counterparts in Washington on the matter. The EU considered the tariffs unjustified.
The move is an important step in Trump's efforts to restore the tariffs he imposed in his first year in office before they were deemed unconstitutional, according to Bloomberg. The tariffs will not be imposed immediately and are subject to a consultation period before possible implementation.
