The US on Thursday launched another trade investigation against India and 59 other trade partners to ascertain if these countries failed to prohibit imports of goods produced using ‘forced’ labour.
This comes a day after the US initiated a probe into more than a dozen countries, including India, citing structural excess capacity and overproduction in certain manufacturing sectors.
India, meanwhile, said it was evaluating the US announcement. “We are studying what is there in their note. We are looking at it from all perspectives. Both from the legal perspective as well as the economic angle which is being mentioned there. India is evaluating the documents,” an official said.
The probe covers sectors, including steel, aluminum, automobiles, batteries, electronics, chemicals, machinery, semiconductors, and solar modules.
“The Trade Representative initiated Section 301 investigations to examine whether the failure of the various economies listed in Annex A to prohibit the importation of goods produced wholly or in part with forced labour is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts US commerce… If any determination is affirmative, the
Trade Representative must determine whether action is appropriate, and if so, what action to take,” United States Trade Representative (USTR) said.
Apart from India, the list of trade partners under US scrutiny included close trade partners such as the UK, EU, Japan, Israel, UAE, Argentina, as well as Russia and China. Even smaller countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are part of the probe.
USTR said that forced labour taints the entire supply chain in which it exists. The US and the US Department of Labour’s 2024 List of Goods Produced by Child Labour or Forced Labour (TVPRA List) includes 134 products produced with forced labour in particular countries. The TVPRA List includes 34 downstream goods in particular countries that are produced with inputs that are produced with forced labour.
“These inputs made with forced labour include cotton used to produce garments, textiles, thread and yarn; critical minerals used to produce solar products or auto-parts; fish used to produce fish oil and fish meal; and palm fruit used to produce kernel or palm oil used in various cooking oils and biofuels,” USTR said.
USTR said that US law has prohibited the import of goods mined, produced, or manufactured in whole or in part with forced labour and that this prohibition recognises not only the humanitarian concerns associated with allowing parties to profit from the suffering of others but also foreign policy and “national security” concerns arising from the exploitation of workers.
“Such exploitation threatens domestic producers who must compete with foreign goods produced with an artificial cost advantage and may harm US workers and citizens through distorting competition and the purchase of goods produced under exploitative conditions. Ending forced labour is a key priority and an economic and national security imperative for the US,” USTR said.
Arguing that forced labour is causing injury to American businesses, the US said that the firms using forced labour incur artificially lower labour costs, and, as a result, are able to sell their goods at a lower price than they would otherwise.
The ILO estimates that in 2024, the profits from forced labour in the global private economy amounted to roughly $63.9 billion annually, with annual profits per victim of $2,113 in the agriculture sector and $4,994 in the industry sector, the highest among sectors in the private economy, USTR said.
