The EU rejects the new US tariff threats as unfounded because of allegedly inadequate action against forced labor. After the latest announcements from Washington, a spokesman for the EU Commission pointed out that the EU had already passed a regulation banning products manufactured using forced labor in 2024. This stipulates that economic operators will no longer be allowed to place products manufactured using forced labor on the Union market from December 14, 2027. There should be sanctions for violations.
“The European Union fully shares the United States’ concerns about forced labor and remains committed to eliminating it from global supply chains through concrete actions,” the spokesman said. The EU regulation on forced labor is one of the most ambitious instruments of its kind in the world.
The spokesman also recalled that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump agreed last summer to work together to ensure strong protection of internationally recognized workers’ rights, including with a view to eliminating forced labor in supply chains.
Lange: “The allegations are simply made out of thin air”
The chairman of the European Parliament’s Trade Committee, Bernd Lange, made similar comments. The SPD politician described the US allegations as “simply made out of thin air” and the proceedings as “absurd”. After the Supreme Court overturned significant parts of Trump’s previous tariffs, the US government is now actively looking for a new legal basis for its arbitrary tariff policy, he explained. For this purpose, every conceivable pretext is now being used to justify existing tariffs or to prepare new ones. The approach follows the motto: “What doesn’t fit will be made to fit.”
The crucial question will be whether the proposed tariff rate of 10 percent falls under the agreements in the customs deal from last summer, because in addition to the proposed 10 percent, the so-called most-favored-nation tariffs (MFN) should continue to be levied. “For numerous products, the total tariff rates could be above the limit of 15 percent agreed in the Turnberry Agreement,” said Lange. From Parliament’s perspective, however, it is clear: “Anything that goes beyond the 15 percent agreed in Scotland is unacceptable.”