Guest Post: Make the Forced Labor 301 Tariffs a Win for Workers
“I had to store my friend’s dead body in the freezer.” A fisher shared this with me and my colleagues at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) through an interpreter.
Topic
Section 301
18 posts
Can Brazil's WTO Complaint on the Section 301 Tariffs Avoid Being Undermined by an "Appeal into the Void"?
Amidst the flurry of recent tariff news was a USTR notice of action earlier this month in the Section 301 investigation of Brazil’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Digital Trade and Electronic Payment Services; Unfair, Preferential Tariffs; Anti-Corruption Enforcement; Intellectual Property Protection; Ethanol Market Access; and Illegal
Will There Be Further Adjustments to the Section 301 Forced Labor Tariffs If Forced Labor Laws Improve?
On Thursday, USTR announced its final tariff rates in the Section 301 investigation on forced labor imports. There are a wide range of ideas for how to challenge these tariffs in court, with some ideas broader than others. One broad approach would be to argue that these tariffs are just
Governments Make Their Case Against Section 301 Forced Labor Tariffs
Last month, USTR made a determination in its Section 301 investigation into "Acts, Policies, and Practices of Various Economies Related to the Failure To Impose and Effectively Enforce a Prohibition on the Importation of Goods Produced With Forced Labor."
The Section 301 Forced Labor Import Ban Report
On June 2, 2026, USTR released its report on its Section 301 investigation into acts, policies, and practices of various economies related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.
Guest Post: Section 301 on Forced Labor - A Closer Look at the Public Hearings
The Section 301 Investigation on forced labor has reached the stage of the public hearings. Between April 28 and 29, around 60 representatives of countries, business associations and non-governmental organizations offered their input to inform the USTR determination following the initiation notice.
The Section 301 Excess Capacity Investigation Needs Less Madness, More Method
Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled President Trump’s emergency tariffs under IEEPA unconstitutional, the administration scrambled to rebuild its tariff wall. While the announcement of Section 122 tariffs immediately following the ruling will provide a temporary patch, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office quickly began to utilize another
The Section 301 Surge Continues: Investigating the Adoption/Enforcement/Administration of Forced Labor Import Bans
This Section 301 investigation intends to pressure all sixty named trade partners (even, inexplicably, including Canada and Mexico) to adopt similar enforcement procedures. This announcement is highly problematic for the four reasons I address below.
The Section 301 Surge Is Upon Us: Investigating Excess Capacity and Production
The first of a large batch of expected Section 301 investigations has arrived, as USTR announced yesterday that it was initiating investigations on acts, policies, and practices of various countries/economies "relating to structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors."
Is Section 301 the Right Remedy for Chinese Shipbuilding Subsidies?
In the Section 301 petition recently filed by a group of unions, the petitioners argued that "Section 301 provides an appropriate mechanism for addressing China’s policies in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sector." They offer three reasons for this:
First, traditional trade remedies are not available to