US Imposes Permanent 10% Forced Labour Tariff on India as Temporary Tariffs Expire
Even as the United States' temporary 10% tariffs expired on 24 July 2026, Washington announced permanent tariffs on 60 trading partners, including India, arising from its forced labour investigation. India's tariff rate remains at 10% instead of the 12.5% originally proposed. The US had imposed a temporary 150-day 10% tariff on all trade partners in February 2026, and in March the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) launched two separate investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act, 1974. The new tariffs flow from the first of those — whether partners were doing enough to prevent imports of goods made using forced labour. USTR Jamieson Greer said decades of moral suasion had not eradicated forced labour from global supply chains. India was spared the higher rate after it notified a ban on importing goods made using forced labour earlier in July.
Key Facts & Details
9 points- 1The US announced permanent forced-labour tariffs on 60 trading partners, including India.
- 2India's rate stays at 10%, not the 12.5% proposed in the draft report.
- 3The earlier temporary 150-day 10% tariff, imposed in February 2026, expired on 24 July.
- 4The action follows a Section 301 investigation launched by the USTR in March.
- 5USTR Jamieson Greer said trading partners must enforce forced-labour import bans as the US does.
- 6India avoided the higher rate after notifying its own ban on imports of goods made using forced labour.
Deep Dive
- +A second Section 301 investigation, into excess manufacturing capacity, is still pending and could bring further tariffs.
- +The June draft report had proposed 12.5% on 54 countries, including India.
- +The US has had a forced labour import ban for nearly a century.
Exam Focus
Under which section of which US law were the forced labour tariff investigations launched?
Exam Relevance & Angle
Section 301, the USTR and forced-labour trade measures are recurring international-trade topics, and India's specific 10% rate against the proposed 12.5% is a precisely testable figure.
Target Exams
Background & Context
Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 lets Washington investigate a trading partner's practices and impose tariffs on its own authority if it finds those practices unfair — without going through the WTO. A forced labour import ban blocks goods made by workers held in coercive conditions. The US has enforced such a ban for decades; the new tariffs are a way of pressing other countries to write and enforce equivalent bans. Because India notified its own prohibition before the deadline, it was left at the lower 10% rate rather than the proposed 12.5%.
Test Yourself
1 / 2The US forced labour tariff investigations were launched under which provision?
Source
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