U.S. states sue to stop Trump’s forced labour tariff on dozens of countries

A coalition of more than two dozen U.S. states has filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's recent imposition of tariffs on 60 trading partners, citing concerns over forced labor. The states contend that Trump overstepped his presidential authority by implementing these new duties.

The tariffs, announced by the U.S. Trade Representative's office, target goods from countries allegedly not doing enough to prevent products made with forced labor from entering the global market. The states argue in their legal filing that the timing of these new tariffs, which took effect just as a previous 10% global tariff expired, indicates they are merely a pretextual replacement rather than a genuine effort to combat forced labor.

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We’re not in favour of sweatshops.

This legal challenge follows similar lawsuits filed by American small businesses seeking to block the new duties. The states involved in the lawsuit are primarily Democrat-led and have filed their case in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York.

Meanwhile, Canada has voiced strong opposition to its inclusion in the tariff policy. Canadian officials assert that the country has robust safeguards in place to prevent forced labor products from entering its supply chains and is actively pursuing additional measures to ensure compliance. The trade minister has stated that Canada has the strongest provisions against forced labor.

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The timing “confirms that the tariff action is pretextual, arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to Section 301’s statutorily constrained purpose,”