The Trump administration proposed imposing additional duties of 10 per cent or 12.5 per cent on imports from 60 economies after determining they failed to curb trade in goods made with forced labour.<\/p>\n
Reuters<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has proposed new tariffs of 10 per cent and 12.5 per cent on imports from 60 economies after determining that they failed to curb trade in goods made with forced labour, a finding described by a senior EU lawmaker as \u201cutterly absurd.\u201d <\/p>\n
The proposal from the U.S. Trade Representative\u2019s office (USTR), issued late on Tuesday, comes from a Section 301 unfair trade practices investigation designed to help rebuild U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s emergency tariffs, which were struck down by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in February.<\/p>\n
The USTR proposed 10 per cent additional duties on imports from Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Taiwan and Britain. The USTR said all had plans or partial schemes in place.<\/p>\n
U.S. begins forced-labour investigation into 60 countries, including Canada<\/a><\/p>\n The trade agency said it would impose additional duties of 12.5 per cent on the remaining 45 countries that it investigated. These include China, India, Nigeria, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cThe failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable,\u201d U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. \u201cThis creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n The USTR said it also was proposing a textile mechanism that would allow for a certain volume of apparel and textile imports to enter the U.S. at a reduced tariff rate, though the duties and volumes were not disclosed.<\/p>\n