US imposes new duties on 60 countries over forced labour enforcement

The Trump administration has taken what it calls final action to impose new double-digit tariffs on roughly 60 economies, citing their failure to adequately ban or enforce prohibitions on imports made with forced labour, according to WWD and the Financial Times. The move follows a Supreme Court ruling that struck down the administration's earlier blanket reciprocal tariffs, and represents a pivot to a different legal basis, Section 301 measures tied to labour enforcement, to rebuild a tariff structure with similar reach.

For fashion and luxury brands, many of which run sourcing operations across exactly the kind of markets named in the action, this raises the stakes on supply chain due diligence. Brands that have already been tightening traceability and supplier audits in response to forced labour scrutiny, including US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act enforcement, now face an additional cost layer if their sourcing countries are named. The unpredictability of the legal basis, shifting from reciprocal tariffs to a forced labour framework in the space of one Supreme Court ruling, also complicates long-term sourcing and pricing decisions for brands that had been planning around the earlier tariff regime.

The timing matters too. This lands alongside separate friction over Europe's handling of a tech fine against Google, which WWD reports could itself trigger new tariffs and unsettle the trade truce agreed with the EU in June. Luxury groups with significant European manufacturing and US retail exposure should watch both threads closely: a fraying of the US-EU agreement would compound the sourcing-side pressure already building from the forced labour tariffs.

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