Canada has introduced a bill proposing a law that would expand the authority of Ministry of Foreign Affairs to restrict imports suspected of ties to forced labor.

Proposed on June 12, Bill C-35 would allow Canada's foreign affairs minister to establish a list of "high risk goods" broken out by region, entity and individual, where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they are produced by forced labor. The bill would also require importers of certain high risk goods to provide improved supply chain tracing data to customs officials, boost coordination and information sharing between federal organizations, and create a cost-recovery model for importers who are found to have brought in goods made using forced labor.

"This legislation would support a level playing field for Canadian companies by preventing goods made with forced labor from undercutting Canadian businesses, and protecting Canadian workers from unfair competition from companies that exploit workers," said Canada's Global Affairs division in a June 12 release.

The bill is in its early stages, and will still need to be approved by lawmakers in Canada's House of Commons and Senate, who will debate the legislation's finer points in their respective committees in the days to come.

This comes as the Trump administration has sought to pressure trade partners to strengthen their own forced labor enforcement measures. In a June 2 release, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said that it had determined that 60 countries — including Canada — had failed to effectively guard against forced labor, and threatened to impose new 10-12.5% tariffs depending on whether those countries had forced labor prohibitions in place at all.