Washington invokes a 50-year-old trade statute to penalise 60 economies, including India, China, the UK and Vietnam, for not enforcing bans on goods produced with forced labour. Canada and Mexico face a lower rate of 10%.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has proposed additional duties of 12.5% on imports from India and 53 other economies, citing their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on goods made with forced labour, according to a Federal Register notice issued this week.
The proposal, made under Section 301 of the US Trade Act, 1974, targets 60 economies in total. Six of them — Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico and Pakistan — are likely to face a lower rate of 10% because they have some partial regime in place to block forced labour goods. The remaining 54, including India, China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the UAE and Vietnam, face the higher 12.5% rate.
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| India’s proposed tariff rate | 12.5% |
| Total economies targeted | 60 |
| EU / Canada proposed rate | 10% |
| Public comment deadline | 6 July |
“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable. This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.”- Ambassador Jamieson Greer, US Trade Representative
The move follows a Supreme Court ruling in February that struck down a broad set of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. Following that ruling, US officials initiated fresh investigations as a route to imposing more durable duties. The USTR said it had determined that the acts, policies and practices of all 60 economies were “unreasonable” and burdened or restricted US commerce.
The proposed tariffs are not without exceptions. Goods such as beef, coffee and certain fruits and nuts are exempt. Products from Canada and Mexico that comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) are also excluded, as are certain textiles and apparel.
Written comments on the proposal are due by 6 July. A Section 301 panel is expected to convene public hearings from 7 July. Trading partners have, so far, largely chosen to negotiate rather than retaliate, seeking bilateral arrangements and market access agreements in place of matching tariffs.
Separately, the USTR has opened parallel investigations into excess industrial capacity — a distinct concern for Washington as it reviews trade relationships with major manufacturing economies.
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