Foreign Affairs Anita Anand says the government is planning to introduce legislation on forced labour.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The Canadian government gave notice Thursday it’s introducing new legislation to stop the import of goods made with forced labour as the U.S. threatens new tariffs on foreign trading partners.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand on Thursday told the House of Commons that within days, the government will be tabling “an Act respecting the prohibition of the importation of goods produced by forced labour.”
The legislation could be introduced as early as Friday.
Tightening measures to stop the imports of goods made with coerced labour was not part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party campaign platform he ran on last year.
The Trump administration last week proposed a new 10-per-cent tariff on goods from Canada and other trading partners in an attempt to rebuild the tariff wall that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. However, the proposed tariff appears to maintain an exemption for Canadian products that comply with the rules of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement – a carve-out that would significantly reduce the bite of the duties.
Ms. Anand’s office declined comment on the contents of the new legislation. However, Mr. Carney last week after Washington unveiled its new forced labour tariff said his government had been “preparing ways to reinforce the regime” Ottawa uses to stop imports of goods with forced labour.
Mr. Carney has said he thinks Canada already has strong safeguards to bar goods made with forced labour, but lawyers and activists have said little is being done to enforce existing rules.
The United States included Canada in sharp criticism this year of countries it says are doing little to stop buying goods made with forced labour.
Its March 2026 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers Washington said Ottawa is failing to stop foreign goods made with coerced labour from entering its market, adding it Canada is importing goods that cost less than they should because of this.
Canada pledged to the U.S. that it would ban imports of products made with forced labour as part of negotiations that led to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, signed in 2018.