The back-to-back actions suggest the United States is assembling multiple Section 301 cases in an effort to rebuild the legal basis for tariffs after the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down a key foundation used to justify earlier duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said Wednesday it had initiated investigations into 60 economies, including South Korea, China, the European Union, Japan, India, Mexico, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The probe will examine whether governments have failed to impose or effectively enforce bans on the importation of goods produced with forced labor — a gap Washington argues allows products made under coercive labor conditions to circulate through global supply chains and gain an artificial cost advantage.
“Despite the international consensus against forced labor, governments have failed to impose and effectively enforce measures banning goods produced with forced labor from entering their markets,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.
“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 latest investigation shifts attention away from domestic labor practices within the targeted economies and instead focuses on whether governments are adequately preventing forced-labor goods from entering their own markets.
U.S. officials argue that if countries allow such products to be imported and re-exported through their supply chains, they effectively undermine international efforts to eliminate forced labor and distort global trade.
The investigation will examine government policies, customs enforcement practices and regulatory frameworks governing import bans on forced-labor goods.
The move builds on a broader trend in U.S. trade policy that increasingly links supply-chain transparency, labor standards and national economic security.
In recent years Washington has tightened restrictions on imports tied to forced labor, most notably through the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which blocks products linked to alleged forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region unless companies can prove otherwise.
Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the U.S. government to investigate foreign government practices deemed “unreasonable or discriminatory” and to impose retaliatory trade measures, including tariffs.
Trade analysts say the forced-labor probe — coming only a day after a separate Section 301 investigation into structural excess capacity in global manufacturing — indicates Washington is increasingly relying on the statute to underpin its tariff policy.
The strategy follows a recent Supreme Court ruling that invalidated tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, forcing the administration to explore alternative legal authorities to sustain its trade enforcement agenda.
By launching multiple Section 301 investigations addressing different types of trade distortions, Washington could potentially establish new legal grounds for tariffs if the probes conclude that foreign practices are harming U.S. commerce.
Under the Section 301 procedure, USTR must seek consultations with the governments under investigation before determining whether trade actions are warranted.
The agency has scheduled a public hearing for April 28, while written comments and requests to testify must be submitted by April 15, according to a Federal Register notice.
After reviewing submissions and consultations, the interagency Section 301 Committee will assess whether the targeted policies burden or restrict U.S. commerce and recommend potential remedies.
Those remedies could include tariffs, import restrictions or negotiated commitments by the affected economies to tighten enforcement against forced-labor goods.
Seoul was included a day earlier in the separate Section 301 probe examining global industrial overcapacity in manufacturing — a case widely seen as targeting government subsidies and production surpluses in major export economies.
While the forced-labor probe does not specifically accuse South Korea of using forced labor, the investigation could examine whether Korean customs authorities adequately prevent imports of goods linked to forced labor from entering domestic supply chains.
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