Canada Introduces New Legislation to Strengthen the Ban on Importing Goods Made with Forced Labour
On June 2, 2026, the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) made findings under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that 60 countries failed to “impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour”. The United States found that this failure is “unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce”, and have proposed actions to be taken against these countries.
With respect to Canada specifically, although Canada’s Customs Tariff already prohibits the importation of goods that are “mined, manufactured or produced wholly or in part by forced labour”, the USTR determined that Canada failed to “effectively enforce its forced labour import prohibition.” Further, the USTR found that Canada “has not taken action to restrict the importation of goods for which there is a known risk of forced labour.” In light of these findings, the USTR proposed additional duties of 10% on goods from Canada. The proposed additional duties will not apply to products that are compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
In response, Canada is introducing a new legislation (Bill C-35) that will implement safeguards to stop the importing of goods made with coerced labour into Canada. As stated in the announcement made by the government of Canada, the new legislation will:
Authorize the Minister of Foreign Affairs to establish a list of high-risk goods—identified by region, entity, or individual—where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they are produced by forced labour;
Establish requirements for importers of certain high-risk goods to provide enhanced supply chain tracing information to the CBSA, in accordance with the regulations;
Introduce a deeming provision, meaning goods identified as high-risk would be deemed prohibited from importation when mandatory information requirements are not met;
Allow the CBSA to designate a customs officer to determine whether imported goods are produced wholly or in part by forced labour and detain goods for a period of up to 90 days; and
Create a cost-recovery model when importers are found to have imported goods made using forced labour.
The new legislation therefore will outline mandatory requirements for importers of certain high-risk goods, the imports of which will be deemed prohibited if importers fail to meet the requirements.
Our team will continue to monitor further developments with respect to this new legislation and we will report updates on our website.
Takeaway
Businesses in Canada should review their policies in relation to forced labour and child labour in their supply chains and reach out to our team with any specific questions related to their business.
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