US slams Nigerian imports with 12.5% tariff over forced labour import rules

Nigeria has been swept up in Donald Trump’s latest tariff offensive after the United States imposed a 12.5 percent duty on imports from 60 economies, accusing them of failing to ban goods produced with forced labour.

 

The tariffs, announced Thursday by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), target countries Washington says have not “imposed and effectively enforced a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour.”

 

Nigeria is among the countries facing the full 12.5 percent tariff, while economies including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico and the United Kingdom, which have either adopted or committed to forced labour import bans, will face a lower 10 percent rate.

 

The latest measures are the Trump administration’s newest use of US trade law to reshape global commerce, coming six months after the US Supreme Court blocked the White House’s attempt to impose sweeping global tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

 

After that ruling, Trump pivoted to the Trade Act of 1974, invoking Section 122 to impose a universal 10 percent tariff on all imports into the United States for up to 150 days. The administration subsequently raised the rate to 15 percent, with the temporary measure due to expire on Friday.

 

Jamieson Greer, U.S. Trade Representative said the tariffs followed investigations into 60 economies, two rounds of public hearings, consultations with more than 45 governments and thousands of public submissions.

“President Trump recognises that decades of moral suasion have not eradicated forced labour from global supply chains,” Greer said. “The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century… It’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same.”

 

The US said the tariffs will not apply to certain categories of products, including raw materials that could create domestic supply shortages, goods that could cause economy-wide disruptions, products that cannot be produced in sufficient quantities in the United States or sourced elsewhere, and selected goods from countries that have adopted or pledged to implement forced labour import bans. Exemptions were also granted where the USTR determined the tariffs would do little to eliminate the trade practices under investigation.