The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy, issued the following statement following the publication by the United States of its notice of final action in the context of the Section 301 investigations on forced labour practices:
"Today, the United States announced its intention to impose tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on 60 economies worldwide, including Canada.
"This measure is part of a broader series of unilateral U.S. trade actions. However, it is not unexpected, as the United States previously signalled its intention to replace existing baseline global tariffs imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 prior to their expiry on July 24.
"Notably, the new Section 301 tariffs include an exemption for USMCA-compliant goods, maintain existing exemptions for certain products, and will be applied at a 10% tariff rate for Canada and a small number of countries, rather than the 12.5% applied to the remaining countries.
"Canada shares the United States' objective of ensuring goods produced with forced labour do not enter our supply chains. That is why Canada has one of the world's most robust frameworks to prevent and address forced labour, backed by strong legislative and enforcement measures. We continue to strengthen this framework, including through the introduction of new legislation to further enhance enforcement mechanisms last month.
"We will continue engaging constructively with the United States on this matter, as well as other outstanding issues, over the coming weeks to the mutual benefit of our citizens.
