La Jornada: Trump’s tariffs for forced labor criticized

Paris. China, France and Australia rejected new U.S. tariffs on forced labor, ranging from 10 to 12.5 percent, against 60 countries.

The French Minister of Economy, Roland Lescure, stated that the taxes announced last Tuesday are unjustified.

Asked by reporters whether these tariffs were justified, Lescure responded: “No, they are not,” speaking on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

“I already had the opportunity to tell Jamieson Greer a few weeks ago when we met in person,” he added, referring to the United States trade representative.

The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, rejected the measure because his country was also affected by this new tax on its products.

“There is an ideological disagreement in which the United States administration has broken with what was a decades-old understanding that tariffs are not positive for the country that imposes them,” he assured the national network ABC.

For its part, China opposes all forms of unilateral restrictive measures, including those imposed on its country under the pretext of alleged “forced labor,” Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yongqian said at a press conference in Beijing. He added that his country has repeatedly expressed a solemn position on this issue.

Greer responds to protests

The United States Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, indicated that his country will respect the tariff limits established in the trade agreements signed with the European Union (EU), Japan and other countries, and the new US tariffs planned in relation to forced labor provide the legal basis to do so.

“We understand that a deal is a deal,” Greer told reporters on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris.

The United States signed agreements with the European Union and Japan that limit US tariffs on most imports from those countries to a maximum of 15 percent.