# Trump’s hypocritical new tariffs are a chance for the world to fight back | Joseph Stiglitz

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/trumps-hypocritical-new-tariffs-are-a-chance-for-the-world-to-fight-back-joseph-stiglitz/
- Published: 2026-08-03T06:00:42+00:00
- Updated: 2026-08-03T06:12:37+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/03/donald-trump-tariffs-us-eu-forced-labour
- Topics: Americas, Business, Government, Politics, World

## Key points

- Stiglitz says Trump's forced-labour tariff pretext is a ruse to grab trade share
- US itself has extensive prison-based forced labour, largely unaddressed
- EU already bans forced-labour imports, making new US tariffs against it hypocritical

## Summary

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz argues that Donald Trump's latest round of tariffs, imposed under the pretext of curbing forced labour abroad, is actually a disguised attempt to seize a greater share of global trade for the United States. He notes the new tariffs closely mirror those Trump previously justified on the basis of bilateral trade deficits, suggesting the forced-labour rationale is a convenient cover story rather than a genuine policy concern, and highlights that China has largely escaped these measures because of its leverage over rare earths and critical minerals.

Stiglitz points to the hypocrisy of the move, noting the US itself has a long history of forced labour through a loophole in the 13th amendment that permits involuntary servitude as criminal punishment, with less than a quarter of US states banning the practice; a 2005 study found around 600,000 prisoners working in manufacturing, equivalent to 4.2% of that workforce. He also singles out the tariffs against the EU as particularly unjustified, since the bloc's 2024 Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive already bans imports made with forced labour, arguing the EU and other nations now have grounds and opportunity to push back against Washington.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.