Washington — India urged the United States to address forced labor concerns through cooperation and stronger compliance mechanisms rather than punitive tariffs, telling a U.S. Trade Representative hearing that blanket duties on Indian exports would be counterproductive.
Responding to questions from USTR officials, Shuchita Sonalika, representing the Confederation of Indian Industry, said India favors collaborative efforts to improve labor standards instead of the broad trade restrictions proposed under the Section 301 investigation.
A USTR official asked how exempting Indian products from additional duties would encourage countries under investigation to eliminate unfair labor practices.
Sonalika said “compliance and cooperation-based mechanisms would be far more effective than the application of tariffs.”
She said CII has been working with the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations Development Programme to promote responsible business practices and would welcome deeper cooperation with U.S. authorities to strengthen India’s compliance systems.
“For example, CII has been working with the International Labour Organisation and the UNDP as well on responsible business practices. And we would welcome cooperation with relevant US authorities on enabling further strengthening of our systems,” she said.
Sonalika said Indian companies already have extensive internal safeguards to prevent forced labor across supply chains, including codes of conduct, ethics policies, supplier standards and environmental, social and governance frameworks.
She also cited India’s Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting framework, introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, which requires disclosures by the country’s top 1,000 listed companies. A BRSR Lite framework has also been introduced for small and medium-sized businesses, she said.
In her prepared testimony, Sonalika said India fully supports eliminating forced labor from global supply chains and that “forced labour has no place in international trade.”
However, she said the proposed 12.5 percent additional tariff was “neither supported in the evidence presented nor likely to advance the stated policy goal” and would instead “penalise a compliant industry.”
Sonalika said India already has “a comprehensive legal and institutional framework” prohibiting forced labor, including constitutional protections, labor laws, criminal penalties and ratification of the International Labour Organisation’s core conventions.
She also said Indian industry operates within “a rigorous global compliance system,” citing human rights due diligence by aluminum producers, continuous audits of textile exporters by U.S. buyers and international certification bodies, strict labor compliance in the foundry and forging sectors, and engineering-driven agricultural machinery manufacturing.
Sonalika argued that Indian inputs are deeply integrated into U.S. manufacturing supply chains and warned that a 12.5 percent tariff would raise costs for American manufacturers and disrupt established sourcing relationships without addressing any proven forced labor concerns.
She urged the USTR to avoid tariffs and non-tariff measures on Indian industry and instead strengthen engagement through existing bilateral mechanisms, including the India-U.S. Trade Policy Forum.
“We believe compliance-based cooperation, not punitive tariffs, is the most effective pathway forward,” Sonalika said. (Source: IANS)
