• Proposed duties over forced labour range from 10pc to 12.5pc; India, China, EU included in list
• Beijing, European Commission reject Washington’s probes as unjustified

WASHINGTON: The US Trade Repres­entative has proposed new duties targeting 60 economies, including Pakistan and India, for alleged failures to act against forced labour, as the Trump administration seeks to rebuild its tariff agenda following legal setbacks.

The proposed tariffs range from 10 per cent to 12.5pc, according to a government filing, and they will undergo a public comment period before a final decision is made.

The move comes months after Washington launched investigations into trading partners, including China, the EU and Japan.

The probes looked into whether they took action against the import of goods made with forced labour, and if this impacted US commerce. On Tuesday, the USTR said that 54 of the economies “failed to impose and effectively enforce a forced labour import rohibition”.

This group includes China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and India.

Six other economies — Canada, Ecuador, the EU, Indonesia, Mexico and Pakistan — were deemed not to have effectively enforced such prohibitions.

“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labour is unacceptable,” USTR Jamieson Greer said.

The USTR said it determined that it would impose 10pc duties related to the forced labour investigation on imports from Canada, Ecuador, the EU, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Britain. The trade agency said it would impose additional duties of 12.5pc on the remaining 45 countries that it investigated.

The public is invited to provide written comments by July 6 and the USTR will subsequently hold hearings.

Meanwhile, China said on Wednesday it opposed all forms of “unilateral” tariffs and denied allegations of forced labour. “There is no so-called forced labour in China, and we oppose using this as an excuse for political manipulation,” Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said.

The European Commission also said the tariffs proposed by the US were unjustified and reiterated its commitment to the trade deal sealed with Washington.

“The EU considers tariffs imposed on these grounds to be unjustified,” a spokes-person said. “On the EU side, we are on track to ensure implementation of our Joint Statement tariff commitments by the end of June.”

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2026