WASHINGTON: The United States has imposed new tariffs on imports from Pakistan and 59 other trading partners over what Washington says is their failure to effectively prohibit imports of goods produced with forced labour, marking the latest use of US trade powers to reshape global supply chains.
The measures, announced by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on Thursday, took effect on Friday, the same day temporary Section 122 tariffs introduced earlier expired.
Pakistan has been placed in the lower 10 per cent tariff category, alongside countries that have either adopted forced labour import prohibitions, committed to doing so under reciprocal trade arrangements, or have partial enforcement regimes. India and Bangladesh have also been assigned the 10pc rate.
Other countries in the same category include Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Argentina and several Latin American nations.
Despite Aurangzeb’s efforts in US, Pakistan remains in 10pc category
A higher 12.5pc tariff will apply to imports from most of the remaining economies investigated by the US. For products from the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Switzerland, the additional duties will be calibrated so that the combined Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) tariff and the new Section 301 tariff do not exceed either 10pc or 12.5pc, depending on the country.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the action was taken at the direction of President Donald Trump after “investigations concluded that the 60 economies had failed to adequately prohibit imports made with forced labour.”
President Trump “recognises that decades of moral suasion have not eradicated forced labour from global supply chains,” Ambassador Greer said, arguing that the measures were intended to address both human rights concerns and unfair trade practices.
The investigations were launched in March under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 and included public hearings, consultations with more than 45 governments and thousands of public comments before the final decision.
The US has also announced a broad range of product exemptions, including certain agricultural commodities, products already covered by Section 232 tariffs such as steel and aluminium, critical raw materials, and selected country-specific products where exemptions are intended to encourage stronger enforcement of forced labour restrictions.
For Pakistan, the announcement comes despite intensive diplomatic engagement in Washington this week.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb spent three days in the US capital holding talks with senior American officials on trade, tariffs, investment and economic cooperation. Diplomatic sources said the newly announced tariffs could not be avoided because they apply to a broad group of countries rather than targeting Pakistan alone.
Pakistani and US officials are expected to resume negotiations soon on a broader bilateral economic partnership aimed at expanding trade and investment.
During his visit, Mr Aurangzeb held meetings with officials from the Office of the Trade Representative, the US Export-Import Bank, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the International Monetary Fund.
The discussions focused on a possible bilateral trade agreement covering tariffs, market access, investment opportunities and wider economic cooperation. Separate talks with the Exim Bank and the DFC explored financing for infrastructure, energy and private-sector investment projects in Pakistan.
The latest negotiations build on months of discussions that began after President Trump’s announcement of a new global tariff policy in April 2025.
Although Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have all received the lower 10pc tariff instead of the higher 12.5pc rate initially considered for many countries, exporters from all three South Asian economies will nevertheless face additional costs when shipping goods to the US under the new Section 301 measures.
Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2026