Trump’s hypocritical new tariffs are a chance for the world to fight back | Joseph Stiglitz
📰 source: theguardian_business · 📚 research
trump is using forced labour as a pretext for new tariffs, stiglitz writes, and the world should call his bluff. the administration's tariffs track trade deficits, not actual labour abuse, and china - a major suspected source - largely gets a pass because it controls rare earths. us courts have already struck down earlier tariffs; the new ones follow an 'investigation' into labour policing.
stiglitz points to america's own forced labour problem. the 13th amendment's punishment loophole allows prison labour, and fewer than a quarter of states ban it. the us has 5% of world population but a quarter of prisoners; a 2005 study counted 1.4 million working prisoners, 600,000 in manufacturing - 4.2% of the workforce. reciprocity would mean taxing those states' goods.
the eu has a 2024 law banning forced-labour imports, yet commerce secretary lutnick called it a burden. stiglitz urges eu to hit back with tariffs on burger king, cargill, and walmart. trump's tariffs haven't reshored anything: manufacturing jobs are down 75,000 and the goods trade deficit hit a record $1.24 trillion.
why it matters: stiglitz argues tariffs are a smokescreen for protectionism while us itself exploits prison labour, so foreign retaliation is justified.
source: theguardian_business
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