{"id":635,"date":"2026-06-03T13:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=635"},"modified":"2026-06-03T13:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:52:15","slug":"trump-administration-cites-forced-labor-concerns-as-grounds-for-new-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=635","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration cites forced labor concerns as grounds for new tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration has proposed new tariffs of up to 12.5% on imports from 60 economies after determining they had failed to curb trade in goods \u200cmade with forced labor, an assertion that was rejected by its trading partners.<\/p>

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The proposal from the U.S. Trade Representative\u2019s office, issued late on Tuesday, comes from a Section 301 unfair trade practices investigation designed to help rebuild U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s emergency tariffs, struck down by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in February.<\/p>

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Despite laws banning them, the products of forced labor are deeply embedded in supply chains across the world. But European lawmakers in particular bristle at the \u200baccusation that the region is less effective than the U.S. at curbing the trade in such goods, with one describing the U.S. findings as \u201cutterly absurd.\u201d<\/p>

The USTR proposed 10% additional \u200bduties on imports from Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Taiwan and Britain. The USTR said \u2060all had plans or partial schemes in place.<\/p>

The trade agency said it would impose additional duties of 12.5% on the remaining 45 countries that it investigated. These include China, India, Nigeria, Japan, \u200bSouth Korea, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>

\u201cThe failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable,\u201d U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a \u200bstatement. \u201cThis creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.\u201d<\/p>

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The USTR said it would accept public comments on the proposed tariffs and other remedies through July 6, with a public hearing scheduled for July 7.<\/p>

The announcement comes ahead of the July 24 expiration of a 10% temporary tariff imposed by the Trump administration on February 20, the day the Supreme Court struck down Trump\u2019s \u200btariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.<\/p>

Europe <\/p>

The European Commission said the tariffs were unjustified and reiterated its commitment to the trade deal sealed with Washington last year.<\/p>

Bernd Lange, the chair of the European \u200bParliament\u2019s trade committee, which voted on Tuesday to accept that trade deal, said the new tariffs were expected, but said the results of the U.S. investigation were still \u201cutterly absurd\u201d given a 2024 EU law to ban imports \u200cof forced labor \u2060products.<\/p>

\u201cThe impression is increasingly emerging that a tariff measure is sought first, and only then is a suitable legal justification found,\u201d he said. However, he added that the key question would be whether the additional tariffs would exceed those agreed between both sides last July.<\/p>

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The U.S.\u2019s largest trading partner, the European Union, agreed last July to accept tariffs of 15% on a broad range of its exports. In its report, the USTR said the EU measures only came into force in December 2027 and lacked key elements.<\/p>

\u201cWe know there are ups and downs in what people say,\u201d French Finance Minister Roland Lescure \u200btold reporters after a cabinet meeting. \u201cBut the goal \u200bis to ratify the (trade) accord and stick \u2060to that.\u201d<\/p>

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