Scott Bessent, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, speaks during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on Thursday, February 5, 2026, in Washington, DC, USA.
Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
On Thursday, the U.S. announced new trade investigations into 60 economies in what it called investigations aimed at determining whether those economies failed to curb imports of goods made with forced labor.
According to a statement from the U.S. Trade Representative, investigations conducted under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 include China, the European Union, India and Mexico.
“Despite the international consensus against forced labor, governments have failed to impose and effectively enforce measures that prohibit goods made with forced labor from entering their markets,” said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
“These investigations will determine whether foreign governments have taken sufficient steps to ban the importation of goods made with forced labor and how the failure to eradicate these abhorrent practices impacts U.S. workers and businesses,” he said.
Section 301 allows the U.S. to impose tariffs on countries found to have engaged in unfair trade practices without congressional authorization – a legal authority that Trump used during his first term to impose tariffs on Chinese goods.
The new investigations could ultimately replace at least some of the reciprocal tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down last month.
The investigation was launched as Bessent is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng in Paris this weekend to continue bilateral trade and economic talks.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
