Yesterday, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer initiated an additional investigation pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

This investigation will focus on the “acts, policies, and practices of certain economies related to structural excess capacity and production in certain manufacturing sectors.”

According to the Federal Register Notice published on March 11, “Key trading partners have developed production capacity untethered from the incentives of domestic and global demand. This excess capacity leads to, among others, overproduction and large or persistent trade surpluses, as well as underutilized and unused capacity, in manufacturing sectors.” “This displaces existing U.S. domestic production or prevents investment and expansion in U.S. manufacturing production that otherwise would have been brought online”.

The following economies within scope of the investigation include:

• China
• The European Union
• Singapore
• Switzerland
• Norway
• Indonesia
• Malaysia
• Cambodia
• Thailand
• Korea
• Vietnam
• Taiwan
• Bangladesh
• Mexico
• Japan
• India

USTR will follow the statutory timeline to provide for public comments and hearings. They invite the public and interested groups and parties to submit comments and request to appear at the hearings

• March 17, 2026 – Dockets will open for written submissions of comments
• April 15, 2026 – End date USTR will accept comments and requests for hear appearances
• May 5, 2026 – Public hearing before the Section 301 Committee

Results of a Section 301 investigation can result in additional tariffs or other import restrictions, withdraw or suspension of trade agreement concessions, or enter into a binding agreement with the foreign government to either cease the conduct question or compensate the United States.

It is expected that this investigation will be fast tracked within the USTR with the expectation to have Section 301 duties in place in or around the time frame for which the recently announced Section 122 duties are set to expire on July 24 this year.