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Lawmaker criticizes forced-labor enforcement and use of Smoot‑Hawley provision for new tariffs
Summary
A lawmaker said the administration has reduced enforcement against forced labor and criticized revival of a Smoot‑Hawley provision to impose tariffs on Canadian goods, urging better enforcement and oversight.
The lawmaker told the committee that if the administration wanted to address forced labor, the "first step is to look at its own enforcement record," and accused the administration of cutting efforts to fight forced labor abroad.
He also said the administration had "dug up a zombie law"—the Smoot‑Hawley Tariff Act of 1930—to impose tariffs on clothing, school supplies and other products from Canada. The remarks combined a policy critique of enforcement with concern about the legal basis used for new tariffs. No witness response or legal analysis appears in the provided transcript.
The lawmaker recalled prior testimony from Ambassador Greer and said that while nearly 50 countries sought trade deals, what followed were press releases rather than enforceable agreements or tariff reductions, framing both enforcement and treaty implementation as areas needing scrutiny.
