Stacy Boit,

The US has announced new tariffs of 10-12.5% on dozens of countries accounting for almost all its imports over concerns they are not doing enough to tackle forced labour.

It is the second time President Donald Trump’s administration has announced new import taxes since the US Supreme Court struck down many of his previous duties in February.

The US Trade Department said these countries will face the tariffs because of their failure to address the importing of goods made with forced labour.

The UK said it is tackling forced labour, China denied goods are made with forced labour, and the EU said the tariffs were unjustified.

Meanwhile, an India analyst said the move was a pressure tactic as trade negotiations between the countries continue.

Human rights groups say forced labour does exist in China and that the UK and other countries need to do more on making sure firms do not have forced labour in their supply chains.

However, they questioned the effectiveness of US tariffs as a way of dealing with the problem.

The 60 trading partners listed – including the UK, the EU, Canada, India and Japan – account for almost all of the goods sold to the US.

The US government’s stance is that trading with countries which buy things made with forced labour is unfair on the US.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said it “creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field”.

The tariffs announced have not yet been enforced. The Trump administration will need to go through a process to do so.

The proposed tariffs come after an investigation launched in March by Greer into the 60 trading partners, and whether those countries had failed to act on prohibiting forced labour.

The report into the investigations concluded that 54 of the countries had “failed to impose a legal prohibition on the importation of goods produced wholly or in part with forced labour and to effectively enforce such a prohibition”.

It said six other trading partners – Canada, the EU, Ecuador, Indonesia, Mexico and Pakistan – had “failed to effectively enforce a forced labour import prohibition”.

The trade department said it would impose 10% tariffs on imports from Canada, the EU, Britain, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan.

The remaining 45 countries, which include China and India, would face 12.5% duties.