THE United States will respect tariff caps in trade deals struck with the European Union, Japan and other countries, and planned US tariffs over forced labour provide the legal basis to do so, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said yesterday.
“We understand that a deal is a deal,” Greer told reporters on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris.
Washington has struck deals with Brussels and Tokyo that limit US tariffs on most EU or Japanese imports to a maximum of 15 per cent. However, Greer’s office on Tuesday unveiled a new set of tariffs on 60 countries after determining that they had failed to curb trade in goods made with forced labour. The EU would face a 10pc tariff and Japan 12.5pc. A further Section 301 investigation into excess manufacturing capacity could see overall tariffs on the two economies’ goods push well past 15pc. Greer, talking about the EU trade deal, said the agreement acknowledged that the US could impose tariffs “up to a certain level” and that the Section 301 investigations gave US President Donald Trump the authority to do so. EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who spoke with Greer at the OECD meeting, said both sides agreed that “the deal is the deal”, which meant for the European side the terms agreed at Turnberry with an all-inclusive 15pc tariff.
Sefcovic said EU countries had been surprised to find themselves targeted by tariffs over forced labour on account of their high labour standards, but he expected the European Parliament to approve the Turnberry deal with the Trump administration.
The EU is working to introduce a ban in December 2027 across the bloc on all products involving forced labour, irrespective of whether they originate in the EU or in a third country, he said.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said yesterday that the US Trade Representative’s conclusion that it had failed to curb trade in goods made with forced labour does not fully or accurately reflect Vietnam’s mitigation efforts.
Vietnam’s policy strictly prohibits any form of forced labour, and it complies with the regulations of the International Labour Organisation, foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang told a regular Press conference in Hanoi.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration proposed tariffs of up to 12.5pc on imports from 60 countries, including Vietnam, after determining they had failed to curb trade in goods made with forced labour, an assertion that US trading partners have rejected.
The probe coincided with a surge in Vietnam’s exports to the United States. The US trade deficit with Vietnam reached $54.8 billion in the first three months of this year, second only to Taiwan and higher than the deficits with major exporters China and Mexico, US data showed.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said it wants to reduce trade deficits.
“Vietnam has been and will continue to exchange and work with the United States in a constructive and cooperative manner to resolve existing disagreements, while always trying to protect legitimate interests of workers and businesses,” Hang said.
Vietnam is being targeted by the Trump administration for allegedly distorting trade with excess capacity, intellectual property violations and the use of goods from forced labour.
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