Trump pursues new import taxes

President Donald Trump’s trade team opened hearings this week on new tariffs designed to replace duties the Supreme Court struck down in February. (abcnews.com) (ustr.gov) The first Office of the United States Trade Representative hearing runs April 28 and April 29 and examines whether 60 economies failed to block goods made with forced labor. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer launched that Section 301 case in March. (ustr.gov 1) (ustr.gov 2) A second Section 301 track moves next week against 16 trading partners, including China, the European Union and Japan, over what the administration calls structural excess capacity in manufacturing. The economies under that probe account for about 70% of U.S. imports, according to the Tax Foundation, as cited by the Associated Press. (abcnews.com) (ustr.gov) Section 301 is a 1974 trade law that lets the United States impose tariffs or other penalties after an investigation finds foreign practices are unjustifiable, unreasonable or discriminatory. The Trump administration is leaning on that older statute after the Supreme Court said the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize tariffs. (abcnews.com) (dlapiper.com) The timing matters because Trump’s stopgap import taxes, rolled out after the February ruling, expire in less than three months. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already said the administration intends to replace the lost tariff revenue with new import taxes, including Section 301 duties. (abcnews.com) (usnews.com) Importers and foreign governments are already signaling they will challenge the new cases, arguing the process is being used to reach a preselected outcome. Greer has said he will not prejudge the investigations. (abcnews.com) The tariff uncertainty is spilling into autos. Foreign automakers including Nissan, Hyundai and Toyota have warned Trump officials they may pull some lower-priced models from the U.S. if the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is not renewed or is weakened. (investinglive.com) That warning centers on a 25% tariff on the non-U.S. content of vehicles that previously qualified for duty-free treatment under the North American trade pact. InvestingLive, citing Wall Street Journal reporting, said eight of the 10 cheapest new cars sold in the U.S. come from foreign-based automakers. (investinglive.com) So the administration’s next tariff fight is no longer about emergency powers alone. It is now moving through slower, more formal trade cases that could keep import taxes in place well beyond the summer. (abcnews.com) (ustr.gov)