US-EU Trade and Labor Dialogue Talked About How to Detect Forced Labor

At the first U.S.-EU Trade and Labor Dialogue, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Deputy Undersecretary of Labor for International Affairs Thea Lee and European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis talked about leveraging trade tools between the United States and the European Union to eliminate forced labor in the global economy," according to a USTR readout of the Dec. 5 meeting.

The readout also said that countries should incorporate union's voices as they take actions "to address forced labor in supply chains."

The EU readout said there was strong interest in the European Commission's proposal to ban products made with forced labor, and said that union and business representatives that participated in the meeting "exchanged experiences and good practices on the tools they use to detect, address and mitigate the risk of forced labour in their supply chains."

Tai said in opening remarks: "Addressing forced labor is a key component of our worker-centered trade policy. I recognize the progress we have made to date, including the G-7 Trade Ministers’ Forced Labor Statement from October 2021, and also the Trilateral Joint Statement by the United States, the EU, and Japan from this past September.

"We can build on this progress, but we cannot do so alone."