The Trump administration on Wednesday opened a new trade investigation into manufacturing in foreign countries, an effort that comes after the Supreme Court overturned Donald Trump’s earlier use of tariffs by declaring an economic emergency.
The US president and his team have made clear that they are trying to replace the hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue lost after the February Supreme Court ruling by using different laws to set new tariffs.
In this case, the administration is launching investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which could eventually lead to new taxes on imports. But U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, in a phone call with reporters Wednesday, said he did not want to prejudge the outcome of the process.
“The policy remains the same: The tools can change depending on, you know, the whims of the courts and other things,” Greer said, noting that the goal was to protect American jobs.
Starting the process to completely replace Trump’s earlier tariffs could invite a return of much of the drama that rocked the global economy last year. The tariffs since rescinded led to new frameworks with U.S. trading partners, and it’s unclear what impact a new set of import taxes could have on those agreements. Greer described the commercial frameworks as independent and suggested they were separate from the new research.
This new set of tariffs could unfold against the backdrop of a war in Iran and midterm elections in which Democrats compete against Trump’s Republican allies by emphasizing that the public is owed tariff refunds following the Supreme Court decision.
Greer said the investigation would examine industrial overcapacity and government support that could give foreign companies an unfair advantage over American companies.
Entities subject to the investigation include China, the European Union, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, the autonomous island of Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Japan and India. The government is pursuing what it sees as persistent trade surpluses with the United States and policies such as subsidies and the suppression of workers’ wages, among other factors.
The administration is also implementing a Section 301 investigation to prohibit the importation of goods manufactured through forced labor.
There is pressure on deadlines for the administration to complete its investigations. The administration has imposed 10% tariffs on foreign-made products under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, but those tariffs expire after 150 days, on July 24. Trump said he planned to increase that import tax to 15%, but has not done so yet.
Greer said the administration is “launching” the new investigation based on the 150-day deadline, saying the goal is to provide “potential options” to Trump as soon as possible.
