Following a Supreme Court decision that invalidated a key aspect of former President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, the United States has initiated a new investigation targeting several of its major trading partners.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced Wednesday that the Section 301 probe into unfair trade practices could potentially lead to the imposition of new tariffs on countries including China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, and Mexico, possibly by this summer.
The investigation could authorize the U.S. to levy import taxes on goods originating from any nation found to be engaging in unfair trade practices.
Greer indicated that the goal is to conclude the investigations before temporary tariffs implemented by Trump in late February are set to expire in July.
Other nations under scrutiny include Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Switzerland, and Norway.
Notably, Canada, the U.S.’s second-largest trading partner, was not identified as a target of the investigation.
This action follows a recent Supreme Court ruling that deemed tariffs imposed by Trump on numerous countries in April of the previous year as unlawful.
Shortly after the ruling, the former president announced a new 10% global tariff, characterizing the court’s decision as “terrible” and criticizing the justices who opposed his trade policy as “fools.”
The subsequent day, he stated the levy would be 15%, but the actual rate implemented was 10%.
Since then, Trump and other senior officials within his administration have indicated that the levy would be raised to 15%.
The probe provides the administration with an opportunity to re-establish a credible basis for tariff threats against its trading partners.
It also coincides with forthcoming meetings between top U.S. officials and their Chinese counterparts in Paris this weekend.
These discussions are anticipated to set the stage for a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing at the end of March.
Canada’s minister for US-Canada trade Dominic LeBlanc is in Washington as talks over the future of the USMCA free trade deal ramp up.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gives India a 30-day waiver to buy Russian crude as a “stop gap measure”.
The 24 states are seeking to block Trump’s latest tariffs, which he imposed to replace levies struck down by the Supreme Court.
It is also the first time the target has been lowered since it was cut to “around 5%” in 2023.
A trade court has cleared the way for businesses to receive refunds for tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down last month.