Trade is generally viewed as an economic good for both nations and individuals, but not all forms of trade are beneficial. The slave trade was a critical part of the European colonization of the Americas, both North and South, as Europeans encountered large indigenous populations that could not be forced to work and/or died soon after first contact with Europeans at the turn of the 16th century. Slave labor imported from Africa was the solution to the great paradox of European colonization of the Americas: labor shortages where there was, or had been, areas with high population.

The slave trade was pursued by Portugal, England/Great Britain, Spain, France, and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as Denmark in the 17th century. All of these countries were involved in the development of plantation agriculture in the Caribbean, and in North, Central, and South American colonies to grow and produce critical commodities, such as sugar, tobacco, molasses, and rum, for European markets.

This August 9 is the 500-year anniversary of the founding of the Spanish colony San Miguel de Gualdape in what is either South Carolina or Georgia in 1526. San Miguel de Gualdape was the first European attempt at the colonization of North America and is also where the first documented instance of enslaved Africans and their revolt against their enslavement occurred.1 August 23 is the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

So how is this relevant today?

Slave labor working conditions have been found in the production of commodity agriculture crops, particularly sugar, coffee, and beef, in South America and Central America, as well as in cotton production, electronics manufacturing and call centers in Asia in recent years.2 Working conditions that include withholding of identity documents and/or wages, physical and sexual violence or threat of violence, restriction of movement, abusive working and living conditions, excessive overtime, and “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily” are defined as modern slavery.3

Furthermore, the U.S. has repeatedly alleged that the EU and other industrialized nations have failed to stop trade in goods made with forced labor (aka slavery) and thus is justified in using Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974 to impose tariffs on those countries.4 Slave labor in the supply chain is thus being used as an excuse by the U.S. to implement trade barriers.

Ironically, the U.S. has long allowed both paid and unpaid prison labor as an exception to the 13th Amendment’s ban on slavery, a workforce that generates more than $11 billion per year for prisons and prison contractors.5

Notes

  1. Paul E. Hoffman, A New Andalucia and a Way to the Orient: The American Southeast During the Sixteenth Century (Louisiana State University Press, 1990), pp. 102–104; David J. Weber, The Spanish Frontier in North America (Yale University Press, 1992), p. 31.
  2. Ephrat Livni, “Forced Labor Taints Brazilian Coffee, Say Complaints to U.S. Authorities,” New York Times, 24 April 2025, nytimes.com; Julien Bouissou and Kenza Soares El Sayed, “Brazilian plantations accused of forced labor supply Europe with sugar,” Le Monde, 31 December 2022, lemonde.fr; Catherine Early, “Regulatory crackdown on slavery in cotton supply chains a wake-up call for fashion brands,” Reuters, 20 August 2023, reuters.com; Vibhu Mishra, “UN report exposes torture, rape in Southeast Asia’s multi-billion-dollar scam centres,” UN News, 20 February 2026, news.un.org; Verisk Maplecroft, Modern Slavery Index, 2018, maplecroft.com; “Modern-Day Slavery: Uncovering Forced Labor and Exploitation in Supply Chains,” Washington Center for Human Rights, 30 September 2025, washingtoncentre.org
  3. International Labour Organisation, Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), ohchr.org; ILO Indicators of Forced Labour, ilo.org
  4. David Lawder, Anusha Devang Shah and Philip Blenkinsop, “US cites forced labor concerns as grounds for new tariffs,” Reuters, 3 June 2026, reuters.com
  5. “US prison workers produce $11bn worth of goods and services a year for pittance,” The Guardian, 15 June 2022, theguardian.com