The US Forced Labor Import Ban as a Tool to Raise Labor Standards in Supply Chain Contexts: Strategic Approaches to Advocacy

Abstract

The United States is nearly unique in the world in having a law that bans the importation of goods made with forced labor. This working paper looks at the challenges and opportunities that labor and human rights advocates and trade unionists have faced in using this provision--Sec. 307 of the US Tariff Act of 1930--in the context of campaigns to address systematic violations of workers' rights in supply chains. The paper, written for an audience of advocates and policymakers, offers a new framework for strategic approaches to Sec. 307, with the goals of targeting lead firms at the top of supply chains, changing the practices of major suppliers in the center, and building worker power at the bottom.

Keywords: Trade, forced labor, labor standards