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The Office of the US Trade Representative announced this week that nearly 60 trading partners which account for 99.4 percent of all US imports will face the new duties after an investigation concluded they had not done enough to prohibit goods made with forced labour. USTR officials invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to justify the move which takes effect as a temporary 10 percent global tariff expires. Jamieson Greer who leads the agency stated that the failure of important trading partners to address such imports is unacceptable because it forces American workers to compete on an unlevel playing field and that the US will no longer tolerate this disparity.
The tariffs split into two tiers with Canada the European Union the United Kingdom Mexico and several others subject to an additional 10 percent rate while China India Japan South Korea and 40 more economies will incur 12.5 percent according to a June report from the USTR that Reuters detailed at the time. Ten partners have already agreed to incorporate bans on forced labour imports into reciprocal trade deals with the United States the administration said in its announcement. The action follows a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated earlier tariffs and reflects the Trump administration’s emphasis on using trade tools to combat what it describes as human rights abuses that distort markets.
Chinese authorities opposed the unilateral tariffs and maintained that no forced labour exists in the country an Al Jazeera dispatch from the proposal stage reported. European lawmakers dismissed the US findings as utterly absurd and bristled at implications that the bloc lags in enforcement according to multiple accounts of the reaction. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney noted that his country shares the objective of rooting out forced labour while highlighting exemptions for compliant goods under existing agreements a Reuters summary indicated.
International Labour Organization figures show 27.6 million people are trapped in forced labour worldwide with 63 percent of cases occurring in the private economy that feeds global supply chains. An ILO assessment found that such exploitation generates 236 billion dollars in illegal profits each year across various sectors. The data from the specialised UN agency provides context for the scale of the problem that US trade policy now targets through these levies.
Economists have warned that the tariffs risk raising prices for US consumers and disrupting supply chains already pressured by prior duties a Wall Street Journal review of similar measures observed. The administration is preparing further tariffs including a potential 50 percent levy on certain Canadian imports under Section 338 of the tariff code the BBC reported. A separate ongoing investigation into overcapacity practices in 16 countries could lead to additional duties before the end of the year according to USTR updates.
Business leaders expressed concerns that the policy adds confusion and compliance costs for companies navigating multiple layers of trade restrictions a Reuters compilation of industry reactions noted. The measures build on earlier Trump administration efforts since 2025 to link tariff policy with labour standards in bilateral negotiations. Affected partners have signaled they may pursue legal challenges at the World Trade Organization or consider retaliatory steps in response to the duties.
