4 June 2026 – The USTR has published the findings of its Section 301 forced labour investigations. In future, new tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% are to apply to 59 countries and the European Union. And Brussels reacts with the usual reflex: outrage instead of insight.
US Tightens the Screws: New Section 301 Tariffs Also Hit the EU
The USTR has published the findings of its forced labour investigations – and Brussels reacts with the usual reflex: outrage instead of insight.
What Washington Decided on Tuesday
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has published the findings of the ongoing Section 301 investigations into forced labour. The result: the measures taken by all 59 countries investigated – as well as by the European Union – were classified as insufficient. The investigations were launched in March 2026.
The recommendations derived from this are clear: an additional tariff of 12.5% is to be imposed on countries without explicit laws against forced labour. Countries that have such laws but have so far failed to implement them effectively are to face a surcharge of 10%.
Section 301 has been anchored in U.S. law since 1974 and is a classic instrument against unfair trade practices – applicable whenever a trading partner violates agreements or unjustifiably burdens U.S. trade. The tariffs now proposed are cumulative – they are added on top of existing tariffs. Important exception: products already subject to Section 232 tariffs – namely steel, aluminum, and their derivatives – are explicitly exempt in this case.
Formally, the tariffs are not yet in force. So far, they remain a recommendation. But anyone who has observed the dynamics of U.S. trade policy in recent months will hardly bet on them not being introduced.
Brussels’ Reaction: Outrage at the Push of a Button
The reaction from Brussels followed the familiar pattern. MEP Bernd Lange, S&D, Chair of the Trade Committee in the European Parliament, declared on X that the EU had introduced the strictest rules in the world against forced labour – and that the American accusation was absurd.
What Lange elegantly failed to mention: the European rules against forced labour only enter into force on 14 December 2027. They exist on paper – but not in practice. The American finding that the EU does not yet effectively enforce corresponding import bans is therefore simply correct. Talking that away is not policy – it is rhetoric.
DG Trade Sleeps – and Only Wakes Up When It Is Too Late
The picture is not new. Already in March 2026, shortly after the investigations began, Commissioner Dombrovskis spoke in Parliament on behalf of Trade Commissioner Šefčovič. He assured Parliament that the investigations were being monitored closely and that the Commission was “ready to defend European interests.” It would ensure that there were “no risks” and that any changes would be “only positive.”
That was three months ago. Since then, the Commission has obviously failed to get through effectively to the U.S. administration.
Instead, Brussels clings mantra-like to the Turnberry Agreement as its trade-policy guiding line. Already when Section 232 tariffs were expanded to steel and aluminum derivatives, the Europeans accused Washington of violating the agreement. In the current compromise proposal on the EU-U.S. trade agreement, the Council and Parliament have now granted the Commission the right to take countermeasures – provided the U.S. does not lower the corresponding tariffs to the agreed 15%.
That sounds resolute. In practice, it means: Brussels is planning its reaction to the reaction – while Washington has long since announced the next measure.
Structural Failure at the Top
The real problem is not tactical, but structural. The Directorate-General for Trade and its socialist Commissioner Šefčovič react to U.S. trade policy selectively, slowly, and visibly without strategic anticipation – even though the overall picture of the U.S. measures in preparation, Section 301 and Section 232, has been known in Brussels for months.
Already when the EU-U.S. deal was concluded on 27 July 2025, Commission President von der Leyen had to step in personally to rescue a widely criticized Joint Statement that Šefčovič had not managed to deliver on his own.
The pattern repeats itself. The Commission waits until the situation escalates. Then it reacts. Then it complains about the negotiating partner. Foresight – proactive diplomacy, early conflict de-escalation, substantive negotiation results – is evidently not a core competence on the executive floors of the Berlaymont.
Thorsten Gerber, CEO of the Gerber Group, said today: “Washington is tightening the thumb screws. Brussels is writing tweets – and leaving the Commission’s failings to be borne once again primarily by export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU.”
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