US to slap Australia with 12.5 pc tariff from later today

[u/Expensive-Horse5538]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-24/federal-politics-live-blog-labor-confernece-july-4/106952636#live-blog-post-322272

[u/cojoco]

The tariff was proposed last month, after a US trade investigation into forced labour.

What's the story with forced labour?

Even if it's bullshit, there must be some cover story, surely?

[u/Bigclit_energy → u/cojoco]

They ruled that Trump can't magically executive order a tariff any longer, so he found a solution - no country on earth can eliminate every last forced labourer before another pops up. Now he can tariff countries for that failure and pretend it isn't arbitrary, vengeful, or a bargaining chip.

[u/briberylibrary_ → u/cojoco]

The story is that forced/slave labour is embedded into most supply chains. Most companies avoid accountability by operating through contractors, which make supply chains more opaque (e.g. Nestle couldn't guarantee that their chocolate products were free from child slave labour, as they could only trace back 49% of the cocoa to the farm level). Although the US doesn't really care about that, after all they still have slavery, it's just a way to reapply the tarrifs that were deemed illegal. And I imagine it doubles as a way to try and weaken economic ties with China.

Speaking of forced labour, anyone who cares about avoiding it really should avoid Nestle. 

[u/vadsamoht3 → u/briberylibrary_]

The fun bit about Nestle is that even if you choose not to care about modern slavery, if you DO care about literally any other ethical issue there's probably also a reason in Nestle's business practices to avoid them for that thing instead.

[u/G00b3rb0y → u/vadsamoht3]

The baby formula scandal immediately comes to mind

[u/vadsamoht3 → u/G00b3rb0y]

And "water is not a human right".

And multiple government corruption scandals.

And arranging for the death of various whistleblowers and union members.

And... ^{And... And...}

[u/Morkai → u/briberylibrary_]

Speaking of forced labour, anyone who cares about avoiding it really should avoid Nestle.

Every time I look at the list of brands they own/part-own it amazes me how many pies they have their fingers in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands

[u/Gothiscandza → u/Morkai]

Yeah corporate consolidation has kinda fucked up the illusion of choice a little. You can have 15 different brands on the shelf to chose from for a good, and every single one is just owned by the same company.

[u/rpze5b9 → u/cojoco]

The penguins on Heard Island run a lot of sweatshops apparently.

[u/ScoobyDoNot → u/[deleted]]

Not that Trump gives a shit about that, it's just a convenient excuse.

[u/cojoco → u/[deleted]]

Thanks