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Today with David McCullagh

New wave of US tariffs over forced labour dispute

03 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What are the new US tariffs targeting forced labor imports?

0.031 - 21.092 David McCullagh

The Trump administration has announced plans for a new wave of tariffs targeting imports from 60 economies, including the European Union, claiming they have failed to do enough to stop goods made with forced labour entering their markets. The move could add another layer of uncertainty to transatlantic trade relations. just weeks after the EU struck yet another tariff deal with Washington.

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21.432 - 38.965 David McCullagh

The proposed measures won't take effect immediately, but they signal that Donald Trump is looking for new legal avenues to continue his aggressive trade agenda after the US Supreme Court struck down an earlier tariff regime. To discuss this, I'm joined by Peter Brown, Managing Director of Bagot Investment Partners. Morning, Peter.

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38.945 - 39.546 Peter Brown

Morning, David.

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39.966 - 40.707 David McCullagh

What are we talking about?

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41.107 - 63.012 Peter Brown

Well, this comes from the US Trade Representative's Office and a finding of unfair trade practices investigation, right? And they say that the failure of the most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labour is unacceptable. Right. So their imposing announcement comes ahead of the 20...

62.992 - 75.306 Peter Brown

July the 24th expiration of the 10% emergency tariff that Donald Trump put in, as you rightly say, after the Supreme Court knocked down his tariff policy on February the 20th.

Chapter 2: How do these tariffs affect transatlantic trade relations?

75.326 - 103.309 Peter Brown

So he's trying to replace an existing tariff. That's what he's trying to do. Now, the tariff then exempts. Metals, beef, coffee, certain fruits and vegetables, pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals and aircraft parts. I mean, how do you determine what is produced in Europe through forced labour? And of course, the irony there is that the American...

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103.289 - 111.02 Peter Brown

prisoners produce 11 billion worth of goods a year with forced labour. Really?

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Chapter 3: What is the significance of Trump's tariff strategy post-Supreme Court ruling?

111.181 - 134.582 Peter Brown

Yes, they do. So it's more of Donald Trump's tariffs. But what we know about tariffs now and what we said at the start, tariffs are paid by the importer and the consumer. And we know from anyone requesting a refund, they're all American. They're all American companies. European companies are not paying the tariffs.

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135.643 - 149.12 Peter Brown

American importers are paying the tariffs and American consumers are paying the tariffs. So this is a little bit more of the same. He's just trying to replace what's gone out, what's going to go on the 24th of July.

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149.14 - 154.086 David McCullagh

So it's not a concern with forced labour that is dictating this policy, you would say?

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154.066 - 161.536 Peter Brown

No, it's not a concern with forced labour that's dictating the policy. And certainly, I mean, you know, in Europe, I mean, how do you determine what in Europe is produced with forced labour?

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162.076 - 164.079 David McCullagh

And how do you define forced labour anyway?

164.099 - 164.46 Peter Brown

Exactly.

164.68 - 167.784 David McCullagh

OK. But this could be significant for Europe, could it?

169.146 - 189.031 Peter Brown

This tariff, I wouldn't say is significant for Europe at all. Right. I think that the tariff situation is really gone into the background here for the number of reasons I stated. Right. It's the American companies and the American consumer that's paying them. There doesn't seem to be a fall off. And certainly in Irish exporting, there's no sign of a fall off.

190.453 - 206.213 Peter Brown

You know, normally what a tariff does is it raises the price and then the importer turns around to the exporter and says, you need to cut your prices. We're not seeing that at all. All we're seeing is the U.S. consumer absorbing it and the U.S. importer absorbing it.

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