U.S. cites 60 countries for forced labor failures, imposes new tariffs up to 12.5%

The United States is imposing new tariffs up to 12.5% on countries it claims aren’t doing enough to stop production of export goods by forced labor, saying it hurts U.S. businesses’ ability to compete globally.

A Section 301 report by the United States Trade Representative under the Trade Act of 1974 found 60 economies that failed to enforce a ban on imported goods produced with forced labor. That “burdens or restricts” U.S. commerce, it said.

“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable,” said USTR Jamieson Greer, in a release. “This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field. We will no longer tolerate this disparity.”

Greer said that while some trading partners have taken initial steps to prevent the importation of forced labor goods, “each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labor globally.”