USA proposes new tariffs based on forced labor in 54 countries, but what about forced labor within USA

On June 2 the US Trade RepresentativeUS Trade Representative (USTR)The US government agency responsible for developing and coordinating international trade policy. proposed 12.5% tariff on exports from 54 countries, accusing them of failure to prohibit import of goods using forced labor. In other words, the affected countries are being victimized for being unable to ensure that the goods they import from other countries, including imports to meet essential needs, do not involve use of forced labor at any stage in any way.

This raises an interesting question of the extent to which the USA has been able to eliminate forced labor. It is well known that at the peak of the slavery in the USA around the years 1850-60 the number of enslaved populations in the USA was about 4 million. These slaves routinely suffered not just from fulfilling extremely high labor requirements in very difficult conditions, but in addition also from shackling, whipping, torture and sexual exploitation. Nearly 13% of the population of the USA at that time lived in this condition.

Of course this is a matter of history, but race based exploitation of workers continued long after slavery was abolished. As for the situation existing today, the Blue Campaign to End Human Trafficking in the USA says, “While many view forced labor as an international issue it occurs closer to home than we recognize.” Further this report tells us that forced labor affects US citizens as well as those entering US legally and illegally. A study by the National Institute of JusticeNational Institute of JusticeThe research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. found that 71% of those experiencing forced labor had entered the country on lawful visas. According to this web-site, the trafficking data reveals that 20% of the affected were from domestic work, 9% from restaurants and food services, 8% from construction, 6% from agriculture, 5% from illicit activities and the remaining from other sectors including hotels, hospitality etc.

The latest Global Slavery IndexGlobal Slavery IndexAn assessment published by Walk Free, estimating the extent of modern slavery across 167 countries. country report for USA tells us that over a million people are affected by modern slavery in the USA, the highest in the Americas in absolute numbers. There are about 10360 cases of trafficking in a year, and about 1066 cases of labor trafficking. The number of vulnerable people is much higher, including those affected by systemic racism. The rate of prisoners is the highest in the USA at world level and the practice of forced labor existing in prisons results in a large number of persons being caught in forced labor imposed by the government. The US is not a party to the several key international conventions related to the elimination of modern slavery, including the ILO Forced Labor Convention 1930 and ILO Domestic Worker Convention 1970.

The situation described in a bestselling book ‘Nickel and Dimed’ written by Barbara Ehrenreich some years back still remains relevant for knowing the conditions in some lines of work in the USA. This American author went undercover to write this book—hiding her real identity while working as a shop assistant, household cleaner and waitress. With her experiences she revealed that even with the best of efforts it is difficult to earn enough to meet essential expenses. Also the working conditions in several lines of work are injurious to health as well as to dignity.

Towards the end of the book while drawing conclusions from her experiences, Barbara quotes from studies regarding affordability in terms of matching income and expenses in US cities in times of the late 1990s or around that time. She quotes the Economic Policy Institute that at that time a wage rate of $14 an hour was needed to provide a living wage for a family of one adult and two children. However this did not include common expenses like restaurant meals, internet access, wine and liquor and cigarettes. Even then, this was much lower than the wage of $7 or $8 Barbara found to be the most common wherever she worked or sought work at that time in the course of her assignment. What is more, she found on the basis of the available data that about 60% American workers earned less than $14 an hour.

The working conditions as she saw and experienced were also such as to subject workers to very oppressive conditions. Barbara wrote, “When you enter the low-wage workplace—and many of the medium wage workplaces as well—you check your civil liberties at the door, leave America and all it supposedly stands for behind, and learn to zip your lips for the duration of the shift. The consequences of this routine surrender go far beyond the issues of wage and poverty. We can hardly pride ourselves on being the world’s preeminent democracy, after all, if large numbers of citizens spend half their waking hours in what amounts, in plain terms, to a dictatorship.”

Describing the harm caused to health and dignity as well as the difficulties in meeting basic needs, Barbara says that these workers are working in emergency conditions. She writes, “This is how we should see the poverty of so many millions of low-wage Americans—as a state of emergency.”

Housing is a serious problem for the urban poor as half or more of the earnings go to paying the rent for whatever poor housing conditions they can manage. Comparing this to her original life as a writer, Barbara says that as a member of the rich class, the annual housing subsidy she received –over $20,000 a year in the form of a mortgage-interest deduction “would have allowed a truly low income family to live in relative splendor.” This shows the extent to which government budgets are biased in favor of the rich, instead of giving priority attention to the needs of the poor. The injustices and inequalities have been getting worse over time, with the Trump administration taking several steps which further weaken the poor and the working class.

The poor working conditions of farm workers, who make a very important contribution to meeting essential food needs as well as earnings from farm exports, have been frequently criticized in several reports for poor wages, low security, high accident rates and serious health hazards which have increased further in times of global warming and climate change. Many farm workers, particularly immigrants, have to work long hours in conditions that are close to those of forced work.

Conditions of forced work also exist in domestic work, construction work, hotels and restaurants as well as the sex industry. A significant number of women workers are also affected by forced work. In the context of child workers The Guardian reported in an article published on March 22, 2026 (titled ‘Child labor violations rise in USA as Republicans roll back protections’) that the number of child labor violations has risen five-fold in the last decade.

Earlier the Department of Labor had revealed the shocking fact that there was a 44% rise in child labor employed illegally between October 2022 and July 2023, in less than a year. This was quoted in a note of the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program titled The Resurgence of the Child Labor and the Rights of Children. The New York Times published an investigation in February 2023 highlighting the harrowing situations and dangerous jobs in which children are involved in supply chains across the USA.

In this context a highly relevant paper is titled ‘Child Labor is still with us after all these years’. This paper authored by PJ Landrigan and JB McCommon was published in PMC PubMed Central in 1997. This paper tells us, “Child labor is a major threat to the health of children in the United States. The US Department of Labor estimates that more than four million children are legally employed and another one to two million are employed under illegal, often exploitative conditions. Across the US child labor accounts for 20,000 workers compensation claims, 200,000 injuries, thousands of cases of permanent disability, and more than 70 deaths per year. Agriculture and newspaper distribution are the two most hazardous areas of employment of children and adolescents. Poverty, massive immigration and relaxation of enforcement of federal child labor laws are the three factors principally responsible for the last two decades’ resurgence of child labor in the USA.