US opens new unfair-trade probes to rebuild Trump's tariff pressure

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday launched a new trade investigation into excess industrial capacity in 16 major trading partners in a move to rebuild tariff pressure after the U.S. Supreme Court tore down the centerpiece of Trump's tariff program last month.



U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the "Section 301" unfair trade practices investigation could lead to new tariffs imposed against China, the European ⁠Union, India, Japan, South Korea and Mexico by this summer.



Other trading partners subject to the excess capacity probe include Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Switzerland and Norway. Canada, the second-largest U.S. trading partner, was not mentioned as a target of the probe.



"So these investigations will focus on economies that we have evidence appear to exhibit structural excess capacity and production in various manufacturing sectors, such as through larger persistent trade surpluses or underutilized or unused capacity," Greer told reporters on a conference call.