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

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday (Mar 11) said it was launching two new trade investigations into excess industrial capacity in 16 major trading partners and into forced labour, to rebuild tariff pressure after the US Supreme Court tore down much of Trump’s tariff program last month. US 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,…