Canada prepares forced-labour import restrictions amid US tariff pressure

The federal government plans to table legislation Friday that would change how Canada bars imports of goods made with forced labour—a move aimed at addressing long-standing US concerns about enforcement gaps.

Dominic LeBlanc, the minister overseeing Canada-U.S. trade, said Thursday the country is working to address "long-standing concerns" Washington has raised about "non-tariff barriers." The timing is significant: the US Trade Representative recently recommended a 10% tariff on multiple countries, including Canada, claiming they are not doing enough to enforce domestic forced labour bans.

Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged that while Canada has a strong legal framework for forced labour rules, enforcement has been weak. "We've been less effective in fully enforcing those," Carney told reporters Thursday, citing gaps in how responsibilities are structured legally and resource constraints.

The scale of enforcement has been small: Canada Border Services Agency has intercepted 50 shipments on suspicion of forced labour since 2020, but only two were confirmed to contain forced-labour goods—a 2024 textile shipment and a 2025 frozen seafood shipment. A Coalition Against Forced Labour report noted that just two of 50 intercepted shipments were turned away.

Carney also announced Thursday that the government is eliminating the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), a position introduced under Justin Trudeau tasked with investigating potential human rights violations by Canadian companies abroad. Carney said the office hasn't been effective, though Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand had suggested in March the position "remains important."

With Anand in Europe, her parliamentary secretary Rob Oliphant is expected to table the legislation Friday.