The United States is planning to impose a 12.5 per cent tariff on goods from Australia, alleging the country has failed to take action to prevent slavery and forced labour.
Anthony Albanese says any tariff on Australian exports to the US is “unjustified and inconsistent” with the free trade agreements between the two allies.
Former Australian ambassador to the US Joe Hockey says Donald Trump is convinced that tariffs are beneficial to the US.
I hope every country tariffs in return, citing how the US uses prison labor for all sorts of things and pays them so low it would take a full day to earn enough to buy a pack of ramen soup.
https://workerscomplawattorney.com/what-is-the-minimum-wage-in-prison/
For that matter, many states, ALL Red, are still at the Federal Minimum Wage of $7.25, which hasn’t been increased since 2009.
It can be argued that $7.25 in 2026 is LITERALLY a Slave Wage, especially from the perspective of a corporation or billionaire. At least the antebellum plantation slave owner was expected to provide food, shelter, and clothing for their slaves, as inadequate as it was, but 21st century plantation owners don’t even have to supply that much, and the stipend they offer to cover those expenses is far below the level it takes to provide them. Slave quarters may have been terrible, but at least they weren’t homeless.
We are already Slaves.
Exactly what I was thinking. The US is literally renowned for slavery-esque prison labour, yet Trump is the one trying to put an anti-slavery tariff on other countries?
I sincerely hope other countries do call the fake-tanned paedophile out on yet another tariff related grift.
Its not even “slavery-esque”, it is just a different type of slavery more akin to indentured servitude.