Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says her government plans to soon table a bill to boost Canada’s legal means to stop the import of products made by forced labour.
The announcement comes shortly after the Trump administration threatened a 10 percent blanket tariff related to the issue that would apply to 60 of its trading partners. In the case of Canada, the tariff would apply to all non-Canada–U.S.–Mexico (CUSMA) compliant goods entering the United States.
The U.S. trade representative cited Canada’s failure to do enough to stop importation of products made via forced labour as grounds for the tariff, saying the goods may have an unfair price advantage due to being made at a particularly low cost.
The Trump administration has also raised a number of other disagreements with Canadian trade policy ahead of the July 1 review of the CUSMA trade agreement.
Anand said the bill strengthening provisions against imports made via forced labour could be tabled as early as June 12, but did not provide further details on what specifics it would contain.
Existing Law
Canada specifically prohibits the importation of goods that are “mined, manufactured or produced wholly or in part by forced labour” as well as goods made by prison labour.
This provision has existed as an amendment in the Customs Tariff since 2020 and forms part of Canada’s obligations under CUSMA, which was signed in 2018 and went into effect in 2020.
Ottawa also enacted a bill in January 2024 requiring large businesses and federal institutions to publicly release the information on their efforts to find and eliminate forced labour and child labour in their supply chains.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong has repeatedly questioned the need for new legislation, saying Canada’s issue is not its laws but its lack of effective enforcement.
Chong asked Anand why Canada is putting forward a new bill if it already has tough measures against importation of goods made through forced labour, during Question Period June 11 in the House of Commons.
Anand’s parliamentary secretary Mona Fortier stated that the bill will seek to “strengthen” existing protections.
“Canada already has strong protections in place. We will take further action to strengthen them through new legislation,” she told Chong.
Washington has said that the main concern on importation of goods made through forced labour is not Canada’s laws but its lack of effective enforcement. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) noted that only a small number of shipments have been blocked by the Canada Border Services Agency despite Canada’s laws.
“The number of enforcement actions Canada has taken to prevent the entry of forced labor goods is minimal,” the USTR wrote in a June 2 report proposing the additional 10 percent tariff on Canada and 59 other nations, including Mexico, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, the U.K., and the European Union.
Carney Weighs In
For his part, Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged this criticism from Chong and the United States, saying that while Canada has a “very strong” legal framework, it hasn’t been as effective on enforcement.
“We’ve been less effective in fully enforcing those [laws], and some of that relates to how the responsibilities are structured legally, some of it relates to resources,” Carney said June 11 while answering questions from media during an unrelated press conference.
He raised the example of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, saying the position was eliminated a few months ago due partly to that office only having carried out “one investigation in seven years.”
Carney said the legislation being proposed by Anand is about “being more effective in what we’re implementing,” and added reassurance that despite U.S. sectoral tariffs and tariff threats over forced labour, 85 percent of Canada’s trade remains tariff-free under CUSMA.
“But look, we share the objectives of the United States ... Canadians don’t want goods, services that are the product of forced labour and child labour, and so we’re going to take additional steps to make sure that’s the case,” he said.
Enforcement
Data previously provided by the Canada Border Services Agency shows only two shipments were blocked from entering Canada between 2020 and 2025, out of 48 shipments that were detained for inspection. U.S. authorities blocked 23,000 shipments under forced labour rules during a similar time window.
In addition to criticizing the efficacy of Canada’s enforcement on blocking goods made through forced labour, the USTR said Canada failed to maintain a public list of high-risk companies and regions that are linked to forced labour.
The trade office has also noted that Ottawa doesn’t use the legal presumption that goods coming from high-risk areas or entities have been made with forced labour unless the importers can prove they have not been.
Ottawa has previously highlighted the practice of forced labour in China, with Global Affairs Canada saying in 2021 that “evidence suggests that forced labour of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities is taking place not only in Xinjiang, but across China.”
Olivia Gomm contributed to this report.
