The party that purports to be the champion of human rights will stop at nothing to oppose the Trump administration, with over 90 percent of Democrats, liberals, and Kamala Harris voters rejecting President Trump’s crackdown on countries using forced slave labor.
On July 23, President Donald Trump announced a crackdown on countries that have failed to demonstrate they do not use forced labor in their production practices and levied steep tariffs on 60 economies ranging from Algeria to Brazil, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
The crackdown came after the United States Trade Representative investigated the acts, policies, and practices of 60 economies under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The investigation determined that these 60 economies failed to demonstrate they prohibit the importation of goods produced wholly or in part with forced labor.
In response to the findings, President Trump announced steep tariffs ranging from 10 percent to 12.5 percent on the countries.
A majority of the countries that failed to demonstrate their commitment to prohibiting forced labor received a 12.5 percent tariff, including Vietnam and China. Seventeen countries that demonstrated a moderate level of protection against forced labor received the 10 percent rate, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico.
Early polling on the new tariffs combating slave labor reveals that Democrats will go to any length to oppose any action taken by President Trump, even when that action sets a global standard for opposing forced labor.
The latest Economist/YouGov survey from July 25–27 reveals that Americans are still wary of the impact of tariffs, but the new tariffs targeting countries that use forced labor are more popular than the previous tariffs that applied a 10 percent penalty across the board.
Americans disapprove of the new tariffs targeting forced labor by 24 percentage points, 55 percent to 31 percent, while 13 percent have no opinion. It is possible approval will rise as voters become aware of the impact these tariffs could have on penalizing forced labor and leveling the playing field.
What the data shows is a massive ideological discrepancy when it comes to voters supporting President Trump’s attempt to crack down on forced labor through levying tariffs.
Republicans support the Trump tariffs against forced labor by a sweeping 57 points, 72 percent to 15 percent. Trump voters support the tariffs by 51 points, 70 percent to 19 percent.
Democrats oppose the tariffs combating forced labor by a startling 88 points, 91 percent to just 3 percent.
Among Kamala Harris voters — many of whom spent the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election lecturing the rest of the country on human rights and have not stopped since — 3 percent support Trump’s tariffs against forced labor. Ninety-two percent of Harris voters oppose them.
Among self-identified liberals, 5 percent support the Trump tariffs and 90 percent oppose them.
Of all the Trump policies to oppose, the latest round of tariffs levied against economies that failed a rigorous investigation to demonstrate they do not use forced labor would be the lowest on the list for anyone claiming to support human rights.
Not only are Trump tariffs beginning to pay off economically for the United States — with the Institute for Supply Management’s Purchasing Managers’ Index hitting a four-year high in May — but the latest round of tariffs directly attack countries that have failed to demonstrate a free economy.
The fact that over 90 percent of Democrats, self-described liberals, and 2024 Kamala Harris voters immediately rejected the Trump tariffs despite the president’s attempt to curb forced labor demonstrates that Democrats will oppose anything tied to President Trump.
Democrats in Congress and Democratic attorneys general are already springing into action to oppose the new tariffs. Twenty-two Democratic state attorneys general are publicly opposing the tariffs, and the Democratic leadership in the U.S. Senate introduced a new bill to block the Section 301 tariffs.
While Democrats are framing the new round of tariffs against forced labor as merely a workaround for President Trump to replace his 10 percent tariffs that are set to expire, that is a view that fails to acknowledge the reason Trump believes in tariffs in the first place.
Yes, the Trump Administration is committed to enforcing tariffs on foreign countries to encourage domestic production. But targeting countries that haven’t been able to demonstrate they do not use forced labor does two things: it sets a global human rights standard for proving that a country operates ethically, and in doing so, it evens the playing field.
To frame the tariffs as merely President Trump’s legal “workaround” is to ignore reality — that tariffs are directly connected to the cost of labor and therefore the cost of products. Foreign countries that have been taking advantage of the United States and their own citizens are being called out.
Trump’s new tariffs attack the root cause of the issue he has repeatedly brought up regarding trade with foreign countries: an uneven playing field that benefits trading partners over the United States. An aspect of that unequal advantage is murkier labor laws in many countries. Trump is making it more difficult for foreign countries to operate with that unfair — and inhumane — advantage.
The United States is a country that has rigorous labor regulations ensuring forced labor is strictly banned. Many countries across the globe have a patchwork of policies against forced labor that are not always rigorous or well regulated. If our trading partners are using extremely cheap or forced labor to produce goods, that is not only a violation of human rights, but it also undermines economies that operate freely.
Manzanita Miller is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
