U.S. launches new investigations into 60 countries as it fights to restore tariffs

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The Trump administration’s top trade official launched investigations Thursday into dozens of countries accused of failing to crack down on forced labor, flexing a law that lets the federal government impose tariffs and other trade restrictions as President Trump grapples with a Supreme Court ruling that struck down many of his tariffs.

The investigations are taking place under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a law aimed at restricting unfair trade practices. The roughly 60 countries and territories that were hit with investigations include some of the U.S.’s largest trading partners, like China, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement announcing the probes: “For too long, American workers and firms have been forced to compete against foreign producers who may have an artificial cost advantage gained from the scourge of forced labor.”

The formal legal papers that launched the investigation argue that many other countries — unlike the U.S. — lack strong prohibitions on imports that are made using forced labor. As a result, firms in those countries could “source, use, and profit from imported products produced with forced labor,” putting American companies at a disadvantage.

“These investigations will determine whether foreign governments have taken sufficient steps to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor and how the failure to eradicate these abhorrent practices impacts U.S. workers and businesses,” Greer said.

Greer’s statement does not threaten tariffs. But Section 301 allows his office to impose tariffs and import restrictions if an investigation finds that a country engaged in unfair trade practices.

A day earlier, Greer announced a separate set of Section 301 probes into 16 U.S. trading partners, taking aim at allegations of “structural excess capacity,” or manufacturing more goods than a country can reasonably consume.

Section 301 is one of the tools that Mr. Trump has vowed to use in order to resurrect the country-by-country tariffs that served as a core part of his economic agenda until last month, when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that most of his tariffs were illegal.

The high court found that the Trump administration was improperly using a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs, including a baseline 10% duty on most countries as well as steeper country-by-country levies.

Hours after the ruling was handed down, Mr. Trump imposed 10% tariffs on most foreign imports under a different law called Section 122. He later said those tariffs would increase to 15%, though he hasn’t formally increased the rate yet. That law only allows the president to impose tariffs without congressional approval for up to 150 days, though.

As a result, the Trump administration has argued that Section 301 could be a more permanent way to reinstate the president’s tariff policies.

Greer told reporters this week the administration’s goal is to conclude the new Section 301 investigations before the clock runs out on the temporary tariffs in July. He cautioned that he can’t predetermine how long the investigations will take.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNBC earlier this month that “it’s my strong belief that the tariff rates will be back to their old rate within five months.”