Officials around the world are pushing back on the claims of “forced labor” the Trump Administration has cited to impose sweeping new tariffs on over 80 countries.
The import duties, which will affect 60 economies and take effect on Friday, represent President Donald Trump’s latest effort to impose alternative tariffs on goods coming into the U.S. after the Supreme Court earlier this year struck down most of those he had put in place.
In a Thursday announcement, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said the new tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% were being levied against dozens of countries “for their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.”
“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere.”
The U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 prohibits importing goods whose production involved forced labor. Trump imposed the tariffs under Section 301 of the law, which allows for sanctions on countries that have engaged in trade practices that are “unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts United States commerce.”
Among the expansive group of countries that will be affected by the new tariffs are some of the U.S.’s closest allies and most major trading partners. Collectively, they account for roughly 99.4% of U.S. imports, according to a USTR factsheet.
Officials from a number of the impacted nations objected to the stated rationale for the tariffs, expressing a mix of disappointment, anger, and confusion.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called the 12.5% tariffs on his country “extremely disappointing.”
“The US
