The Office of the US Trade Representative just opened a new front in the tariff wars, and this time it’s wrapped in a human rights justification. The USTR announced a proposal to slap additional tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners that it says have failed to adequately enforce bans on goods produced with forced labor.
The move follows a Section 301 investigation, the same legal mechanism the US has historically used to target unfair trade practices.
Two tiers, sixty countries
The proposal creates a split system. Fifteen economies, including Canada and the European Union, would face a 10% tariff on their exports to the US. The remaining 45 countries, a group that includes China and India, would get hit with the higher 12.5% rate.
Ambassador Jamieson Greer, the US Trade Representative, framed the initiative around fairness. He argued that other nations’ inaction on forced labor creates an “unlevel playing field” that puts American workers at a disadvantage.
