Today marks a defining moment in the fight to end forced labor.
New U.S. tariffs of 10–12.5% just took effect on imports from 60 trading partners, tied directly to whether they ban and enforce prohibitions on goods made with forced labor. Trade interests are clearly part of what’s driving this action, and we won’t pretend otherwise. But regardless of the motive, the opening it creates is real: forced labor has moved from the margins of trade policy to its center.
Companies can no longer look away from what’s happening in their supply chains — they have to deal with it, now. 28 million people are trapped in forced labor today — nearly 40 percent of them women and girls, 12 percent children.
We have never seen a moment like this. But this window won’t stay open forever, and how we take advantage of it will determine whether it closes having driven real progress toward ending forced labor or having simply rearranged where goods are made.
Transparentem has spent over a decade proving what it takes to convert pressure like this into lasting change: rigorous, worker-centered investigation and follow-through with companies, regulators, and investors until we see workers freed from forced labor. Today’s action needs that same discipline:
- Build a roadmap, not a cliff. Countries need a published, achievable path to reducing tariffs as they make real progress.
- Center workers in enforcement. Import bans should only be lifted after workers have been freed from conditions of forced labor and made financially whole again.
- Fund the infrastructure. Governments, unions, and civil society need technical assistance to detect, prevent, and remediate forced labor — and to build the import-ban systems this action assumes already exists.
Just as importantly, the U.S. needs to sharpen enforcement of the ban it already has.
Companies, investors, and policymakers: the measure of success here isn’t the tariff rate. It’s whether forced labor is eliminated. We’re going to take this opportunity, and alongside our partners on the ground and in this fight, make the most of it.
Press contact:
Elizabeth Kester, Director of Partnerships & Communications
E: elizabeth.kester@transparentem.org