US President Donald Trump has approved fresh “unfair trade practice” investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 against 16 major trading partners, including China, India, and Bangladesh, with the potential reimposition of tariffs if violations are established.
The move comes after the US Supreme Court struck down earlier tariff impositions on several key partners as unconstitutional.
The investigation targets economies accused of structural excess capacity, persistent trade surpluses, and underutilised or unused manufacturing capacity—factors the administration says distort global trade.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stated that the probe could lead to the reimposition of tariffs against China, India, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and Mexico in the coming months. The other countries and territories named in the investigation include Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Switzerland, and Norway.
Notably, Canada—which had openly criticised the Trump administration following earlier tariff announcements—was not included in the list.
Greer explained, “The investigations will focus on economies that we have evidence appear to exhibit structural excess capacity and production in various manufacturing sectors, such as through larger persistent trade surpluses or underutilised or unused capacity.”
