USTR begins trade probes into 16 economies including India, China, EU

The investigations under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 will determine whether their acts, policies and practices are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict US commerce.

The 15 other economies are China, the European Union (EU), Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico and Japan.  

USTR Jamieson Greer yesterday announced new trade investigations into 16 economies, including India.
The probes relate to structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors.
The 15 other economies are China, the EU, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico and Japan.

“The United States will no longer sacrifice its industrial base to other countries that may be exporting their problems with excess capacity and production to us. Today’s investigations underscore President Trump’s commitment to reshore critical supply chains and create good-paying jobs for American workers across our manufacturing sectors,” said Greer in a USTR press release.

“The Trump Administration’s reindustrialization efforts continue to face significant challenges due to foreign economies’ structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors. Across numerous sectors, many U.S. trading partners are producing more goods than they can consume domestically,” he noted.

“This overproduction displaces existing US domestic production or prevents investment and expansion in US manufacturing production that otherwise would have been brought online. In many sectors, the United States has lost substantial domestic production capacity or has fallen worryingly behind foreign competitors,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) Chairman Ashwin Chandran said, “While CITI awaits more clarity on this recent US development, it adds further uncertainty to the textiles and apparel sector, which is already under significant stress due to the turbulent developments in West Asia and the lack of a clear picture of how the US tariff situation will unfold. However, CITI remains hopeful that the Indian government will do all it can to safeguard the interests of the textiles and apparel sector, one of the country’s major exporters and the nation’s second-biggest employer.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)