NASSAU, Bahamas – The Bahamas government says it is engaging the United States in a bid to seek “clarification” after Washington imposed a new 12.5 percent tariff on exports from the country claiming that Nassau had failed to impose and enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour.
United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Jamieson Greer announced that the agency has imposed fresh tariffs on 60 countries for failing to “impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour”.
The action was taken at the direction of US President Donald Trump, with Greer saying “President Trump recognizes that decades of moral suasion have not eradicated forced labor from global supply chains”.
Apart from the Bahamas, the other Caribbean countries affected by the new tariffs are the Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. The USTR said that will affect roughly 60 global trading partners.
In a statement last night, the Office of the Prime Minister said the government “is aware of the announced tariff adjustment and is reviewing its potential impact on Bahamian exporters..
“We are engaging our United States counterparts to seek clarification and to ensure that recent legislative measures taken by The Bahamas are fully considered,” it noted.
The statement said that The Bahamas values its longstanding economic relationship with the United States, “and we will continue working constructively toward a fair resolution that protects Bahamian businesses and maintains the strong trade relationship between our countries”.
The USTR said forced labour “may be understood as work or service extracted from a person under the menace of any penalty for its non-performance, and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily”.
USTR General Counsel Jennifer Thornton said the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that in 2024, the profits from forced labour in the global private economy amounted to an estimated US$63.9 billion annually, with annual profits per victim of US$2,113 in the agriculture sector, and US$4,994 in the industry sector, the highest among sectors in the private economy.
“Forced labor taints the entire supply chain in which it exists. For example, the US Department of Labour’s 2024 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor includes 134 products produced with forced labor in particular countries,” she said.
The list includes 34 downstream goods in particular countries that are produced with inputs that are produced with forced labour. These inputs made with forced labour include cotton used to produce garments, textiles, thread and yarn; critical minerals used to produce solar products or auto parts; fish used to produce fish oil and fish meal; and palm fruit used to produce kernel, or palm oil used in various cooking oils and biofuels.
The Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) reported that exports to the United States in the third quarter of 2025 totaled US$110,903,562 as compared to US$84,253,103 in the third quarter of 2024.
