Trans-Pacific View | Economy | Southeast Asia

Major ASEAN Economies In Line For New US Tariffs Over Forced Labor

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has recommended the imposition 10-12.5 percent levies on 60 major trading partners.

The Winder Building, which houses the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington, D.C., Mar. 31, 2026.

Seven Southeast Asian nations are among the 60 countries that the Trump administration has threatened with double-digit tariffs over their failures on the issue of forced labor.

In March, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced that his office had initiated unfair ​trade practices probes over these nations’ alleged failures to take action on forced labor, under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.

In a statement released in Washington late Tuesday, Greer’s office concluded that the “acts, policies, and practices” of all 60 nations had failed “to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.”

The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are among the 44 economies that the Trump administration has threatened with a 12.5 percent tariff for unfair trading practices. The remaining 16 nations, including Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia, are in line for a 10 percent tariff.

The list of nations under scrutiny also includes major U.S. partners and allies such as Australia, Canada, the European Union, Britain, Israel, ​India, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, as well as adversaries like China and Russia.

In its full 92-page report, the USTR said that these nations’ failures undermined “the universal aim of eliminating forced labor” as well as disadvantaging firms and countries that did not permit its use, thereby “distort[ing] market conditions.”

“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable,” Greer said in the USTR statement. “This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field. We will no longer tolerate this disparity.” He added that the failure to prevent such imports was “unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.”

The tariffs are part of President Donald Trump’s push to rescue his protectionist trade policy after the U.S. Supreme Court in February struck down the sweeping global tariffs that his administration imposed on allies and adversaries alike last year. Trump responded by imposing a........

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