Photo/Illutration Economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, fourth from right, holds up a memorandum agreement he signed Jan. 6 with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, fourth from left. (Provided by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)

WASHINGTON--Japan and the United States agreed to set up a task force to ensure products made using forced or child labor do not enter their markets.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, the economy minister now visiting Washington, D.C., signed a memorandum of cooperation on Jan. 6 with Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative.

By having clear rules in place regarding the supply chain in their respective countries, companies will be encouraged to focus on human rights when doing business.

Officials from the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will monitor activities from the Japanese side, while a wider range of departments will coordinate in the United States, including State, Commerce and Labor, as well as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

“We cannot allow human rights violations in the supply chain,” Nishimura said during the meeting.

Tai said an estimated 28 million people around the world are exploited in the name of global trade through forced labor and use of child labor.

Dealing with these issues are pressing problems facing the trade system, she added.

The task force will examine restrictions in place in Western nations that hamper the ability of companies to procure materials obtained or processed using forced or child labor or sell products manufactured using illegal methods.

International trends in this area, as well as the standards that should be followed, will be shared with companies of the two nations. Companies will also be encouraged to scrutinize their entire supply chain systems to ensure human rights violations are not occurring.

Europe is pushing to obligate companies to conduct periodic human rights checks based on due diligence.

The Japanese government in October 2022 compiled guidelines for human rights under due diligence, but companies were not obligated to comply. That led to criticism that Japan is behind the times regarding human rights monitoring of supply chains.

The United States in 2020 implemented an import ban on products manufactured in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China due to the use of forced labor by minorities. That decision temporarily affected products sold in the United States under the Uniqlo label of Fast Retailing Co.

(This article was written by Takumi Wakai and Ken Sakakibara.)

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