A person fishes near a container ship at the Port of Los Angeles in Wilmington, California, May 8, in this Getty Images photo. AFP-Yonhap
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is proposing that tariffs of 10 percent or more be imposed on products from dozens of major trading partners following a probe into imports of goods allegedly made with forced labor.
The report released early Wednesday by the U.S. Trade Representative said Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and the United Kingdom and some other countries and territories would face 10 percent additional tariffs for allegedly failing to enforce a forced labor import ban.
A 12.5 percent additional tariff would be imposed on China, Japan, India, Korea, Brazil and Switzerland and dozens of other countries.
“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,” USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer said in a statement.
He added that "each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labor globally.”
The USTR said failure to prevent such imports is "unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce."
This latest barrage of tariffs is likely to unsettle key trading partners that have been hit by waves of tariffs since President Donald Trump returned to office early last year.
Just two weeks ago, the European Union approved a tariff deal with the United States to cap tariffs on most EU exports at 15 percent following intense debates among the EU’s 27 nations and threats by European lawmakers to block the agreement.
Trump recently returned from a visit to China, where he and its leader Xi Jinping discussed expanding market access for American businesses in China and increasing Chinese investment into U.S. industries. The two leaders agreed to set up separate boards of trade and investment — though few details were provided.
Source: Korea Times News
