US tariff threat over forced labour looks like old wine in a new bottle
With the latest escalation in Trump’s forever tariff war, Washington is alienating allies and adversaries alike
This move, though, is not about protecting the US economy and rebalancing trade. Instead, the rationale is to blame all those governments for the prevalence of forced labour in global supply chains, and the harm it does to US commerce.
That is, of course, laughable. Many of those countries have domestic labour laws and protections as well as those against modern slavery within global supply chains that are far superior to the US’.
Even China and the EU, which are on the verge of a trade war, are united in denouncing the renewed tariff threat.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the US accusations were a pretext for “political manipulation”. Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament’s trade committee, called the US claims “utterly absurd”, in light of the EU having some of the world’s toughest rules against forced labour in supply chains.
Though some public consultations in the US are scheduled early next month, experts believe the outcome has already been decided.