US proposes new tariffs over failure to act on forced labor

WASHINGTON

The Trump administration is proposing that tariffs of 10 percent or more be imposed on products from dozens of major trading partners following a probe into imports of goods allegedly made with forced labor.

The report released early yesterdya by the U.S. Trade Representative said Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and the United Kingdom and some other countries would face 10 percent additional tariffs for allegedly failing to enforce a forced labor import ban.

A 12.5 percent additional tariff would be imposed on China, Japan, India, South Korea, Brazil and Switzerland and dozens of other countries.

“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable. This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field,” USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer said in a statement.

This latest barrage of tariffs is likely to unsettle key trading partners that have been hit by waves of tariffs since President Donald Trump returned to office early last year.

Just two weeks ago, the European Union approved a tariff deal with the United States to cap tariffs on most EU exports at 15 percent. It followed intense debates among the EU’s 27 nations and threats by European lawmakers to block the agreement.

The report defined forced labor 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.”