USTR Announces New Section 301 Investigations Of Major Trade Partners To Replace IEEPA Tariffs By Late Summer

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced its latest effort to substitute more permanent tariffs for the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) levies struck down by the US Supreme Court on February 20, 2026. Jamieson Greer, the current United States Trade Representative (USTR), announced the initiation of an investigation of the acts, policies and practices of 16 trade partners to be conducted under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 relating to "structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors". According to Greer, the investigation "will determine whether those acts, policies, and practices are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict US commerce."

On a call with reporters, Mr. Greer stated that "we expect that this investigation will uncover a variety of unfair trading practices" that have led to "large and persistent trade surpluses" with the US. Upon completion of its investigation, the USTR will propose any necessary "responsive action," which Mr. Greer said may not be limited to tariffs.

The USTR has requested consultations with China, the European Union, Mexico, Japan, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Bangladesh. Most of those trade partners had negotiated either a trade "framework" agreement or had entered into a trade agreement with the US following the announcement of the IEEPA tariffs in April of 2025. The Federal Register Notice of the investigation alleges specific "overcapacity" for each of the targeted economies, including variously steel, aluminum, autos, semiconductors, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, machinery and electronics. Many of these sectors are also (1) already covered by Section 232 "national security" tariffs, (2) subject to an ongoing Section 232 investigation by the Commerce Department, or (3) expected to be the subject of an upcoming Section 232 investigation.

The USTR also announced on Thursday that an additional Section 301(b) investigation targeting forced labor and covering 60 countries. All sixteen of the trade partners covered by the earlier investigation are also included in the newer one. The forced labor investigation alleges that these countries may have insufficient prohibitions on imports that are made using forced labor, giving businesses in those countries an unfair advantage over US companies.

The USTR will open a comments docket for the earlier investigation from March 17, 2026 through April 15, 2026. Comments on the forced labor investigation should also be submitted by April 15, 2026. A public hearing for the first investigation is currently scheduled for May 5, 2026, while a hearing on the forced labor investigation will take place on April 28, 2026.

Since the Supreme Court decision several weeks ago invalidating the IEEPA tariffs, concerned parties have been hopeful that USTR might conduct the inevitable 301 investigations on either a country-by-country or issue-by-issue basis, which would provide for a more meaningful comment and hearing process. The broad-based investigations announced this week covering a variety of issues and multiple countries in several investigations seem unlikely to result in clarity anytime soon for many trade partners and others.

The short timeframe for the investigation is consistent with the "strong belief" expressed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last weekend that the investigations being conducted by the USTR and the Department of Commerce will result in tariffs returning to their IEEPA levels by August of this year.

Butzel continues to track tariff developments in real time. In addition to monitoring new investigations, legislation, lawsuits, etc., we are ready to assist companies in compiling and analyzing their tariffs data, drafting and filing protests and/or lawsuits, and otherwise assessing the timing and strategy to best protect your business.

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