The U.S. government said it will launch a Section 301 investigation of trade law into 60 countries, including Korea, to block imports of goods produced through forced labor.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said on the 12th (local time) that it is launching an investigation under Section 301 of the trade law into 60 countries, including Korea, to ban imports of products made with forced labor. USTR Representative Jamieson Greer said that despite international agreement on forced labor, governments have adopted measures to bar market entry of goods made with forced labor but have failed to enforce them effectively, adding that for far too long U.S. workers and corporations have had to compete with foreign producers who enjoy an artificial expense advantage because of the scourge of forced labor.
Most of the United States' major trading partners were included among those surveyed, including China, Japan, Korea, the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Vietnam. Korea was included the previous day among Section 301 investigation targets related to overproduction, and then, a day later, was included again in connection with forced labor. Greer said the investigation will determine whether foreign governments have taken sufficient steps to ban imports of goods produced with forced labor and what impact their failure to eradicate this abhorrent practice has on U.S. workers and corporations.
The USTR announcement came as the U.S. government is moving quickly to introduce new tariffs to make up for reduced tariff revenue after the nullification of country-by-country reciprocal tariff measures. Enacted in 1974, Section 301 of the Trade Act is regarded as a trade weapon that allows the United States to retaliate unilaterally against unfair trade practices by counterpart countries without going through dispute settlement procedures of the World Trade Organization (WTO).