The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has proposed new duties of between 10% and 12.5% on 60 trading partners, including India, Pakistan, China, the United Kingdom and the European Union, over their alleged failures to prevent the importation of goods produced with forced labour. The announcement, made on Tuesday by USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer, marks a significant new front in the Trump administration's trade agenda as it seeks to rebuild its tariff framework following a major legal setback.

The proposals distinguish between two categories of economies. Fifty-four countries — including India, China, Japan, Brazil, Australia, the UK and Saudi Arabia — were found to have failed entirely to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on forced-labour goods, and face a proposed additional duty of 12.5%. A second group of six economies — Canada, Ecuador, the EU, Indonesia, Mexico and Pakistan — were judged to have existing prohibitions but to have failed to enforce them adequately; these face a proposed 10% duty. The tariffs come with a range of exemptions, including beef, coffee, certain fruits and nuts, and goods from Canada and Mexico that comply with the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). A textile mechanism would also allow certain volumes of apparel imports to enter at a reduced rate.

"The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labour is unacceptable," Greer said, arguing that American workers were being forced to compete on "an unlevel playing field." The proposals stem from formal investigations launched earlier this year into whether trading partners had taken sufficient action against forced-labour imports and whether their inaction had harmed US commerce. Those probes were themselves launched in the aftermath of a February Supreme Court ruling that struck down a broad tranche of Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, prompting the administration to seek alternative legal vehicles for trade action.

India has pushed back against the move, denying the forced-labour allegations and calling on Washington to address such concerns within the framework of ongoing bilateral trade negotiations rather than through unilateral tariff measures. The proposed tariffs are not yet final: the public may submit written comments until 6 July, and the USTR is scheduled to hold hearings on 7 July before any decision is made. The timeline is significant — the current temporary 10% tariff imposed on 20 February is set to expire on 24 July, giving the administration an incentive to move swiftly toward a more durable replacement.

The breadth of the action — spanning major economies across Asia, Europe, Latin America and beyond — underscores how central trade enforcement has become to the Trump administration's economic strategy. Critics may question whether framing broad tariff measures under a forced-labour rationale risks conflating genuine human rights concerns with wider protectionist goals, while supporters argue the move creates meaningful pressure on governments to align their import rules with internationally recognised labour standards.