The Trump administration on Wednesday opened a new trade investigation into manufacturing in foreign countries. According to reports, the effort comes after the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s previous use of tariffs by declaring an economic emergency. In this announcement, the Trump administration highlighted 16 economies, including India.
In the formal announcement by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the administration will begin investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which could ultimately lead to new taxes on imports.
Countries under examination include the United States’ largest trading partners such as China, the European Union, Mexico, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
The Trump administration will also investigate Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
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“Our view is that major trading partners have developed production capacity that is not really constrained by market incentives for domestic and global demand,” Bloomberg quoted Greer as saying during a conference call with reporters.
What does the statement say?
The official statement quoted Greer as saying: “The United States will no longer sacrifice its industrial base to other countries that may export their excess energy and production problems to us. Today’s investigations underscore President Trump’s commitment to reshoring critical supply chains and creating good-paying jobs for American workers across our manufacturing sectors.”
He added: “The Trump administration’s remanufacturing efforts continue to face significant challenges due to the structural excess capacity of foreign economies and production in manufacturing sectors. Across many sectors, many U.S. trading partners produce more goods than they can consume domestically. This overproduction displaces existing U.S. domestic production or prevents investment and expansion in U.S. manufacturing production that would otherwise be provided. In many sectors, the United States has lost significant domestic production capacity or fallen alarmingly behind foreign competitors.”
Read the full statement here
Trade relations between India and the United States
India and the United States recently announced a bilateral trade agreement, which saw the Trump administration reduce its customs tariffs on New Delhi from 50% to 18%. This massive reduction in tariffs against India came after the White House said it had received a guarantee from New Delhi, which stated that it would reduce and stop its purchases of Russian oil.
India was subjected to 25 per cent tariffs from the US following President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ exercise. However, the US President announced an additional 25% tariff on India as punishment for “buying Russian oil and fueling the war in Ukraine.”
While few details have been shared about the India-US trade deal, both countries have hailed the deal as “historic”.
