US announces new tariffs over forced labour concerns

The tariffs announced have not yet been enforced. The Trump administration will need to go through a process to do so.The proposed tariffs come after an investigation launched in March by Greer into the 60 trading partners, and whether those countries had failed to act on prohibiting forced labour.The report into the investigations concluded that 54 of the countries had "failed to impose a legal prohibition on the importation of goods produced wholly or in part with forced labour and to effectively enforce such a prohibition".It said six other trading partners - Canada, the EU, Ecuador, Indonesia, Mexico and Pakistan - had "failed to effectively enforce a forced labour import prohibition".The trade department said it would impose 10% tariffs on imports from Canada, the EU, Britain, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan.The remaining 45 countries, which include China and India, would face 12.5% duties.'Unjustified' moveA UK government spokesperson said: "We're tackling forced labour in the UK and in global supply chains to ensure UK businesses are not complicit in forced labour and human rights violations.