The Trump administration will impose tariffs of up to 12.5% starting Friday on goods from 60 U.S. trading partners accused of failing to crack down on forced labor, it announced Thursday, a move that will extend the administration’s tariffs on much of the world.
Most of the trading partners will face 12.5% tariffs, including Vietnam and China, but a lower 10% rate will apply to 17 countries that have some prohibitions on forced labor, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico. Five other trading partners — including the European Union — will face some additional levy to get their total most-favored-nation tariff rate to either 10% or 12.5%.
A senior administration official described the measure as “the most sweeping international labor rights action the United States has ever taken, that any country has ever taken.”
The official told reporters the Trump administration views forced labor as a problem not only because of human rights concerns, but also because countries that don’t enforce bans on forced labor have an “unfair advantage” over the United States, which does enforce such bans.
“This action advances longstanding bipartisan objectives by pairing enforcement with incentives that encourage our trading partners to adopt and effectively enforce the type of import prohibitions that we do,” an official said earlier Thursday.
Some imports are exempted from the levies, including oil and gas, things that aren’t produced in the U.S. or could cause economic disruptions, goods where a tariff wouldn’t contribute to the elimination of unfair trading practices and goods like steel that are already covered by sector-specific tariffs. Many goods that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal signed during the first Trump administration, are also exempt.
The new tariffs will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, which is when a separate set of 10% levies on most imports is scheduled to expire.
This is a breaking story; it will be updated.