Washington: The US Trade Representative (USTR) has proposed levying an additional 12.5% import duty on goods from 54 countries, including India, accusing them of failing to prevent products made with forced labour from entering global markets, agencies reported.
The announcement follows investigations into 60 nations that the USTR said have not adopted or effectively enforced restrictions on imports linked to forced labour. The list of 54 includes major trading partners such as India, China, Japan, Brazil, Australia, the UK and Saudi Arabia.
“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labour is unacceptable,” US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.”
Greer added: “We will no longer tolerate this disparity.”
India Contests Probe
India has reje
cted the findings under the forced labour clause and urged the United States to drop the investigations, saying the matter should be resolved through ongoing bilateral trade talks. The USTR, however, maintained that many partners have not put in place or enforced prohibitions on imports produced with forced labour.
In a separate category, the USTR found that Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico and Pakistan maintain prohibitions but lack adequate enforcement mechanisms. Greer noted that some countries have begun to address forced-labour linked imports through existing frameworks such as the USMCA and Agreements on Reciprocal Trade, but he argued those steps are insufficient.
Under the proposal, economies that already ban forced-labour imports, have committed to such measures under reciprocal trade agreements, or maintain partial safeguards would face a lower additional duty of 10%. “For all other economies, the US Trade Representative proposes 12.5 per cent as the rate of additional duty,” the statement said.
Textile Quota Cuts Tariffs
The 12.5% surcharge would apply to the 54 nations identified in the investigation. Separately, the USTR also put forward a textile mechanism that would allow a set volume of apparel and textile imports from selected countries to enter the US at reduced tariff rates.
USTR has invited stakeholders to request to appear at hearings and to submit testimony summaries by June 22; written comments will be accepted until July 6. “USTR will hold hearings about the proposed actions in these investigations on July 7,” the statement said.