US plans extra tariffs for 60 countries over forced labor

US President Donald Trump's administration is proposing additional tariffs of 10% or more to be imposed on its trading partners following a probe into countries importing goods allegedly made with forced labor.

In a report released Wednesday, the US Trade Representative (USTR) said it had found that 60 economies had failed to "impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor," calling it a "burden" to US commerce.

"This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field. We will no longer tolerate this disparity," USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer said in the document.

The tariff proposal is currently open to public comment and review and is therefore not in immediate effect.

The new tariffs under US trade law could help Trump bypass the Supreme Court ruling in February which stated that his tariffs were largely illegal.

An additional 10% tariff will be imposed on imports from Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, Pakistan, the UK and EU nations. These are countries which, according to Washington's investigation, impose a forced labor import prohibition, that have undertaken commitments on forced labor or have partially prevented the import of forced labor goods.

An additional 12.5% tariff will be imposed on 45 others, including China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Switzerland. These are countries that have failed to impose and effectively enforce the prohibition of imports made with forced labor, the statement said.

"Each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labor globally," Greer said.