Trump tariffs target 60 countries over failure to ban forced labor imports

The Trump administration on Tuesday night announced a new plan to impose tariffs on up to 60 trading partners which would face additional import taxes of 10% or 12.5%.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a report that found the 60 countries were neglecting to enforce rules prohibiting imported goods made with forced labor, which in turn had a negative impact on American companies. 

It found that 54 countries, including notable trading partners like China, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, failed to impose and enforce a forced labor ban. A further six countries failed to effectively enforce such a ban, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

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

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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the plans for new forced labor tariffs. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We will no longer tolerate this disparity,” Greer said. “Some trading partners have taken initial steps to prevent the importation of forced labor goods, including through USMCA and commitments in Agreements on Reciprocal Trade.”

“However, each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labor,” he added.

For trading partners that have either a ban on forced labor imports, have committed to impose such a prohibition or have imposed a partial regime to prevent the importation of goods made with forced labor, they would have an additional 10% tariff. All other economies would face an additional tariff of 12.5%.

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The textile industry is particularly vulnerable to sourcing cotton made with forced labor in China. (Wu Changwei/Xinhua via Getty Images)

USTR’s proposal also includes a mechanism to allow certain volumes of imported apparel and textiles to enter the U.S. at a lower tariff rate. Forced labor is commonly used overseas in producing cotton that’s used in textile products, particularly that which is sourced from the Xinjiang region of China. 

Federal laws against the use of forced labor ban the importation of cotton made with forced labor into the U.S., including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The law refers to the ethnic Uyghurs who reside in Xinjiang and have faced persecution from the Chinese Communist Party, with many subject to forced labor.

The USTR report notes that nearly all the 60 countries that were subject to the investigation that began in March imported cotton from China in 2021 and 2025. It adds that the complexity of supply chain tracing “makes it difficult for consumers and apparel companies to trace their supply chains all the way to the raw material, particularly as garments produced by third-economy producers would not indicate China as their source.”

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Ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, are subject to forced labor and mass internment by the Chinese government. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

The 60 countries that were investigated and found to impose or enforce a forced labor import ban imposed an “unreasonable or discriminatory burden” on U.S. commerce, according to the report.

USTR said that “undermines the universal aim of eliminating forced labor; permits firms that avail themselves of forced labor to produce goods at lower cost and therefore distort market conditions for firms that do not use forced labor; undermines that profitability of firms that do not use forced labor; and contributes to the circumvention of existing forced labor import prohibitions.”

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Written comments on the proposal are due by July 6, with the USTR to hold hearings the following day on July 7. Interested parties should submit requests to appear at the hearings, along with a summary of testimony, by June 22.