Scott Bessent, US treasury secretary, speaks throughout a Senate Banking, Housing, and City Affairs Committee listening to in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
The U.S. on Thursday launched new commerce investigations into 60 economies to find out whether or not they did not curb imports of products made with compelled labor, a day after it initiated unfair commerce practices probe into 16 buying and selling companions.
The brand new investigations, performed beneath Part 301(b) of the Commerce Act of 1974, embody China, the European Union, India and Mexico, in accordance with a press release from the USA Commerce Consultant.
“Regardless of the worldwide consensus towards compelled labor, governments have did not impose and successfully implement measures banning items produced with compelled labor from coming into their markets,” U.S. Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer mentioned.
“These investigations will decide whether or not overseas governments have taken ample steps to ban the importation of products produced with compelled labor and the way the failure to eradicate these abhorrent practices impacts U.S. employees and companies,” he mentioned.
Part 301 permits the U.S. to impose tariffs on international locations discovered to have engaged in unfair commerce practices with out congressional authorization — authorized authority that U.S. President Donald Trump had used throughout his first time period to levy duties on Chinese language items.
The forced-labor probes comply with Part 301 investigations launched on Wednesday, which focused extra industrial capability throughout 16 economies, together with China, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand.
The most recent probes expanded the record of nations beneath Part 301 scrutiny to incorporate extra international locations such because the U.Ok., Brazil and Russia.
The brand new investigations seem to serve as a substitute route to interchange at the very least a number of the “reciprocal tariffs” that the U.S. Supreme Court docket quashed final month.
“With the strike-down of the reciprocal tariffs, the administration made it clear that their plan-B could be rolled out soonest,” mentioned Wendy Cutler, vp at Asia Society Coverage Institute and a former U.S. commerce consultant.
The Supreme Court docket invalidated Trump’s reciprocal tariffs final month, ruling that the president had exceeded his energy. Trump then instantly imposed a ten% world blanket tariff based mostly on Part 122 of the Commerce Act 1974, and threatened to boost it additional to fifteen%.
The sweeping scope of the investigations has drawn scrutiny over their feasibility and rationale amongst commerce consultants.
The U.S. Commerce Consultant will maintain hearings on the investigations from April 28 to Might 1 — an “unrealistically quick” timeline given the breadth of nations beneath scrutiny, mentioned Deborah Elms, head of commerce coverage at Hinrich Basis.
Taking intention at European Union, which has enacted its personal legislative framework prohibiting forced-labor practices, whereas sparing international locations with considerably weaker enforcement data “doesn’t make sense,” Elms mentioned.
The sweeping breadth of the commerce probes additionally dangers alienating companions and squandering the goodwill wanted to forge a collective response to handle Chinese language industrial overcapacity, in accordance with consultants.
“The administration is shedding an essential alternative to work with companions to handle the actual extra capability drawback on the earth, [which is] China,” Cutler mentioned.
“By including greater than a dozen international locations into an investigation on extra capability our companions will probably be in no temper to work with us to handle the intense challenges China’s extra capability is presenting globally,” she added.
China in crosshairs?
The investigations come as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is anticipated to satisfy together with his Chinese language counterpart He Lifeng in Paris this weekend to proceed commerce and financial talks, and weeks forward of a gathering between Trump and Chinese language President Xi Jinping.
“China won’t view this as excellent news and can use the upcoming assembly in Paris to specific its displeasure,” mentioned Stephen Olson, senior visiting fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and a former U.S. commerce negotiator.
However each side seem dedicated to retaining the Trump-Xi assembly on observe, “I would not count on this to upset the apple cart,” Olson mentioned.
Responding to the U.S. part 301 probe on extra capability, a spokesperson for China’s overseas ministry mentioned at a press briefing Thursday that Beijing’s was against all types of unilateral tariff measures.
“Launching new commerce investigations proper earlier than the summit sends the improper sign,” mentioned Wang Huiyao, founding father of the Heart for China and Globalization, a think-tank usually seen as aligned with Beijing’s pondering.
“A unilateral method isn’t going to work. Part 301 has been tried earlier than, and what the 2 sides want now’s to discover a strategy to work collectively — together with on what is going on within the Center East,” he added.
The primary Trump administration launched six Part 301 investigations, with probes into China and the European Union leading to tariff hikes. The Biden administration additionally carried out Part 301 investigations, and two probes into Brazil and China stay ongoing.
