The new approach was revealed in the Department of Labour’s biennial list of goods that it “has reason to believe” are produced by child or forced labour, which became a crime to import in 2016 under a law introduced by President Barack Obama.
“American workers cannot compete with producers abroad who use child labour or forced labour” US Secretary of Labour Alexander Acosta said in a foreword to the list of 148 goods produced in 76 countries.
If “a trading partner” engages in child or forced labour, “the US will do what it takes to protect vulnerable workers from exploitation, safeguard American jobs, and create a fair playing field for countries that play by the rules”, he added.
A Department of Labour spokeswoman said the report represented a key contribution to protecting vulnerable workers from exploitation worldwide.
“Child labour and forced labour are abhorrent practices that run counter to American values,” Martha Newton, deputy undersecretary of the Department of Labour’s Bureau of International Labour Affairs, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in emailed comments.
An estimated 25 million people are trapped in forced labour globally, according to the International Labour Organisation and the charity Walk Free Foundation.
More than US$400 billion (RM1.6 billion) worth of goods likely to be made by forced labour enter the US market each year, said Annick Febrey, director of government relations with the Human Trafficking Institute, which advocates to end modern slavery.
She said the Department of Labour’s change in tone echoed President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda on international trade issues and could mean a more sustained effort to block forced labour-made goods from entering the country.
“It’s reflective of the current administration’s trade policies and focus on America First,” Febrey told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Trump has imposed import duties on China, Mexico, Canada and the European Union, raising trade tensions as he seeks to set right what he sees as unfair trade balances.
Eric Gottwald, legal and policy director for the Washington-based International Labour Rights Forum, said he was struck by Department of Labour’s stress on eradicating slave labour because it puts US workers at a competitive disadvantage
US foreign policy has typically portrayed forced labour as a violation of international human rights standards that must be stamped out, he said.
“The current administration has placed more emphasis on … how American workers shouldn’t have to compete with forced or child labourers,” he said in emailed comments.
Thompson Reuters Foundation