Trump Administration Launches Additional Section 301 Investigations

As Connecting the Dots reported last week, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) initiated investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 regarding “structural excess capacity and production in various manufacturing sectors, such as through large or persistent trade surpluses or underutilized or unused capacity,” within Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, the European Union (EU), India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Following that announcement, the U.S. government also said it had initiated a Section 301 investigation into select trading partners’ alleged failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor. This investigation will cover 60 trading partners, including all 16 trading partners that are covered in the Section 301 investigation into excess capacity, along with other major trading partners like Australia, Brazil, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The investigation initiation notice explained that U.S. law has long prohibited the importation of goods produced with forced labor, but that other counties have not “adopted and effectively enforced a forced labor import prohibition to date.” This practice puts U.S. businesses at a disadvantage because foreign competitors have artificially lower costs due to the use of forced labor, the noticed argued.

Stakeholder comments and requests to appear at the related public hearing into this matter are due by the end of the day April 15, 2026. The hearing will begin on April 28, 2026 and continue, as necessary, until May 1, 2026. More information is available at this link

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