The Office of the United States Trade Representative has proposed the imposition of one additional tariff of the 10% or the 12,5% to 60 business partnersamong which are the European Union, the United Kingdom or Chinain relation to the lack of measures in the fight against trade of produced goods con forced labor.
“It is unacceptable that our most important trading partners do not address the importation of goods made with forced labor. This creates a dynamic in which American workers are forced to compete globally on an unequal playing field,” stated the Ambassador Jamieson Greer.
On March 12, the US Trade Representative under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, began 60 investigations related to the lack of effective application by various economies of the prohibition of import goods produced with forced labor.
“Unreasonable”
In its conclusions, it has determined that the non-compliance by each of the 60 economies investigated to impose and do fulfill effectively the prohibition of import goods produced with forced labor “is unreasonable or discriminatory” and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce and is therefore actionable under Section 301(b)(1) of the Trade Act.
In particular, the US Trade Representative determined that Canada; Ecuador; the European Union; Indonesia; Mexico; and Pakistan have failed to effectively enforce the ban on importing goods produced with forced labor. Likewise, other 54 economies have not imposed or effectively enforced a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.
It is 54 economies They are: Algeria; Angola; Argentina; Australia; Bahamas; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Brazil; Cambodia; Chili; China; Colombia; Costa Rica; Dominican Republic; Egypt; El Salvador; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Hong Kong; India; Iraq; Israel; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Libya; Malaysia; Morocco; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Norway; Oman; Peru; Philippines; Taste; Russia; Saudi Arabia; Singapore; South Africa; South Korea; Sri Lanka; Swiss; Taiwan; Thailand; Trinidad and Tobago; Türkiye; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Uruguay; Venezuela; and Vietnam.
“We do not tolerate inequality”
Therefore, all economies investigated have failed to effectively impose and enforce the import ban. produced goods with forced labor, so the Trade Representative has proposed imposing additional tariffs on all products from the 60 economies investigated.
Thus, for economies that impose a ban on the import of products made with forced laborwhich have committed to imposing and enforcing such a ban through an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade, or which have imposed a partial regime preventing the importation of certain products made with forced labor, the proposal contemplates an additional tariff of 10%, while for the other economies it proposes an additional tariff of 12.5%.
“We will no longer tolerate this inequality,” he declared. Jamieson Greerfor whom, while some trading partners have taken initial steps to prevent the importation of goods made with forced labor, “each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not encourage or perpetuate forced labor globally.”
