Submission to the US Trade Representative’s Office in Response to Proposed Tariffs re: Forced Labor Import Bans
Main Takeaways:
- The eight elements of an effective forced labor import ban are a good starting point for USTR to assess countries' performance in passing legislation, but they were not designed to be prescriptive or punitive.
- There is a democratic imperative to allow countries to develop their own legislation without duress, so USTR should use a holistic approach toward assessing the design of new laws.
- Democratic processes require deliberation and consultation. Forced labor import bans will be most effective when civil society, unions, workers’ rights groups, and the trade community are partners from inception through enforcement.
- Capacity building should be the centerpiece of the US strategy for encouraging forced labor import bans.
- USTR should use tariffs as a last resort in addressing the unfair trade practices resulting from a lack of forced labor import bans.
- Countries that have laws or that commit to passing laws should be given time – at least an additional year – to develop the laws as well as the skills and strategy necessary for implementation and to collaborate internationally to stop forced labor made goods from entering their market.
- If at all, developing economies should be tariffed at significantly lower rates than developed nations, as tariffs have a higher risk of creating adverse effects on workers in developing nations and will highly likely, and counter-productively, increase the risk of forced labor rather than reduce it. OECD countries should be held to the highest standards.
- If indeed the USTR subjects countries to tariffs immediately based on the passage and implementation of import bans, the USTR should hold official review periods, at least biannually, to determine whether to reduce or eliminate the tariffs based on country performance. There should be clear benchmarks for success.
- If USTR’s actions are to have an effect on forced labor, products made with forced labor should be a high priority for those tariffs. The USTR has included in its Federal Register Notice a list of over 1650 products that it proposes to exclude from these tariffs. Cross listing those exclusions with the Department of Labor’s "List of Goods Produced With Child Labor or Forced Labor" and with products known to be made in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region reveals more than 200 products that should probably not be excluded, given the apparent aim of addressing forced labor in supply chains through these tariffs.
- The US needs to enforce its own laws more robustly if it expects other countries to enforce theirs.
The Annex to this Submission contains a (non-exhaustive) spreadsheet of products that are excluded from the proposed tariffs and that are listed in the DOL list or that are known to be made in Xinjiang. USTR should consider this list as it makes its final determinations, and it should also review the remaining goods to ensure that there are no others that have been missed in this spreadsheet.