‘Forced labour’ rationale for Trump tariffs met with bewilderment

Measures effectively replace a blanket 10% tariff that Donald Trump imposed in February but were ruled illegal by US supreme court Donald Trump has once again inspired anger and confusion in US allies and trading partners as he imposed a wave of tariffs on more than 80 countries replacing an expiring global duty rolled out earlier this year. The new measures effectively replace a blanket 10% tariff that Trump imposed in February. The US supreme court ruled many of those were illegal.

The new levies come in at between 10% and 12.5% on countries including the UK, Mexico, Canada, Australia, India, China and the 27 countries that make up the EU.

They are imposed under section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, and the Trump administration has said the new measures are due to the dozens of countries failing to enforce bans on goods produced by forced labour. For many officials digesting the news on Friday, that rationale was hard to swallow. “You can’t say that ⁠for the European Union, its foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said ​on the sidelines ‌of the Asean ‌meeting in Manila.

View image in fullscreen The EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas speaks to reporters in Manila on Friday. Lopez/ “If you compare our ‌labour laws to the ones of the United States, I mean, we have paid vacations, we have very good labour conditions for our employees, so ‌it’s not really grounded. Kallas said the EU would seek ​clarification from Washington, adding that the bloc had honoured commitments under a transatlantic trade agreement reached in 2025 and viewed ⁠the new tariffs as a shock.

“We had ​a ​deal with America ​and we have kept to ​that deal, that ‌side of ​the ​deal, she said. “That’s why this is a negative surprise that this agreement is not kept. Australia and Brazil described the new tariffs as unjustified and said they would seek to have them removed.

Norway’s foreign minister said there was no basis for the tariff against Norway because the country already had “clear rules that are intended to prevent trade in goods produced using forced labour”. New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, called them “extremely disappointing” and said the US had not provided “meaningful evidence to support claims in relation to forced labour”. View image in fullscreen A container ship berths at a port in Tokyo.

Robichon/EPA On announcing the tariffs on Thursday, US trade representative Jamieson Greer said the US had rigorously policed its own forced labour import ban for nearly a century, adding “it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same”. But critics argue the measure is an effort by the Trump administration to rebuild the president’s tariff wall after the supreme court struck down a host of his duties in February. “Today’s forced labour justification is too convenient to be taken seriously, said Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the US House ways and means committee.

“Forced labour is a real and pervasive problem in our supply chains and demands serious enforcement. It should never be cheapened into a pretext for a tariff policy built on dubious legal theories and personal grievances.’’ The Trump administration has been hunting for options that would allow it to aggressively deploy tariffs, said former US trade official Ryan Majerus.””””””