By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, July 24: The US will slap an additional 10 per cent tariff on nearly all Malaysian exports, saying Malaysia has failed to effectively enforce a ban on imports associated with forced labour.
In a report by Free Malaysia Today, the tariff, which took effect at noon today, is in accordance with a Section 301 investigation launched by the US Trade Representative (USTR) in March into 60 economies over their forced labour import restrictions.
Apart from Malaysia, other economies subject to the 10 per cent tariff include Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and the UK.
Malaysia was placed in the lower tariff band of 10 per cent, compared with the 12.5 per cent rate imposed on most other economies, due to commitments related to forced labour import prohibitions under its reciprocal trade agreement with the US, though this was declared nullified by trade minister Johari Ghani in March.
According to the USTR notice, several products are exempted from the tariff, which include crude and refined palm oil, gemstones, and silk, as well as psyllium seed husks, Boswellia, and argan oil.
In addition, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Indonesia are also set to be included in a future tariff-rate quota mechanism that would allow a specified volume of textile and apparel products to enter the US duty-free in exchange for importing more US cotton.
Meanwhile, Trade representative Jamieson Greer said the tariff was imposed at the direction of President Donald Trump, arguing that decades of diplomatic efforts had failed to eradicate forced labour from global supply chains.
Greer also called on other trading partners to adopt and enforce similar measures. — DayakDaily
