in brief
- US President Donald Trump has unveiled sweeping new international trade tariffs.
- Australia is one of dozens of countries hit with a new 12.5 per cent levy on trade goods.
Labor leaders have hit back at new tariffs imposed by the United States and set to come into effect at 2:01pm AEST on Friday.
The new levy is set to replace a temporary 10 per cent tariff that was due to expire at the same time, which the US claims is in an effort to tackle "forced labour".
Defence minister Richard Marles said that the justification behind the tariffs doesn't make sense.
"This, in our view, makes no sense," Marles told ABC radio on Friday morning.
"Forced labour is definitely something which needs to be combated around the world, so we support that objective.
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"But we have laws, which are amongst the strongest in the world, and we’ve been making that point to the Trump administration."
Almost all goods sent from Australia to the US will be impacted — except for those already loaded onto ships en route — at the specific direction of US President Donald Trump.
Australia is among 54 economies the US trade department claims have "failed to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor".
Trump has made tariffs central to his second term in office — arguing their use will prevent other nations from taking advantage of the US — however, his previous attempt to impose them was struck down by the United States Supreme Court.
Many experts have said the current claims of "forced labour" — and the need to enforce the new measure to level the playing field as the US does not use forced labour — are merely a pretext to re-impose a key policy.
Australia's trade minister Don Farrell has called for the tariffs to be removed.
"These tariffs are unjustified, inconsistent with our free trade agreement, and should be removed," he said in a statement to the Guardian.
"Australia’s measures to combat forced labour and modern slavery are among the strongest in the world, and we are recognised globally, including in the US, for our leadership."
The Australian government previously made a formal request for the US not to proceed with the tariffs earlier this month after they were proposed in June.
SBS News has reached out to the trade minister for comment.
This is a breaking story and will be updated again soon.
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