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Trump tariffs revive forced-labor pretext, court battles persist
The piece notes a prior Supreme Court ruling against Trump tariffs and points to 150-day temporary tariffs that were deemed illegal but remained under appeal before expiring in late July.
A Guardian Business op-ed by economist Joseph Stiglitz argues that the Trump administration’s latest tariff approach uses a forced-labor justification as a cover for pursuing US advantage in global trade.
The article says the administration has moved between increasing and decreasing tariffs “willy-nilly,” and that the rationale this time, based on forced labor, closely tracks earlier tariff actions tied to trade balances.
Stiglitz writes that after the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s previous tariffs, the administration imposed 150-day temporary tariffs that the courts had already deemed illegal, with the matters still under appeal as the measures expired in late July.
The op-ed also contends that enforcement would not be consistent with a genuine forced-labor concern, highlighting that China has largely been given a pass in the tariff pattern described, and adding that the US has loopholes that can be used to allow forced labor-like practices domestically.