A US plan to slap 60 countries including Australia with new tariffs it claims are warranted due to anti-slavery violations is drawing condemnation from the government and opposition.
US President Donald Trump's latest round of import taxes would see Australian goods subject to a 12.5 per cent levy - an increase on the current 10 per cent tariff - from July 24.
"The acts, policies and practices of Australia related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a forced-labour import prohibition are unreasonable and burden or restrict US commerce," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer found in a report published overnight.
"The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labour is unacceptable ... we will no longer tolerate this disparity," Mr Greer said in a separate statement on Wednesday (AEST).
