The US has targeted 60 trading partners, including the UK, the EU and Canada, with new investigations into their practices around forced labour that could allow the Trump administration to impose fresh tariffs.
The US trade representative’s office, in a filing late on Thursday evening, said it would launch probes under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that would focus on whether countries had adequate rules against importing goods made with forced labour.
US trade representative Jamieson Greer said the investigations would also determine “how the failure to eradicate these abhorrent practices impacts US workers and businesses”.