L’interdiction d’importation des produits issus du travail forcé dans les accords commerciaux régionaux : analyse comparée de la mise en œuvre en droit canadien et américain

• Main Author: Kristine Plouffe-Malette
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Association d'Economie Politique 2020-12-01
• Series: Interventions Économiques pour une Alternative Sociale
• Subjects: 1930 Tariff Act; consumptive demand; forced labour; regional trade agreement.
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/12393

In February 2016, a loophole in US trade law was reportedly closed by the adoption of a legislative amendment that prohibits the import of products derived from forced labour. Canada could follow the lead of U.S. legislators in the coming months with the passage of a Senate Bill. This "permission to prohibit" is reminiscent of the wording of certain regional and bilateral trade agreements and major international labour law conventions. This article first provides a portrait of the labour clauses in regional and bilateral trade agreements to which Canada is a party, and then discusses the notion of forced or compulsory labour. Finally, and this is the contribution of this text, the new American model for banning the importation of products derived from forced labour is presented and compared to the latest Canadian legislative developments in this area.