The UK has been included in a fresh US trade investigation that could result in new tariff pressure being applied to dozens of countries.
The US Trade Representative’s (UTR’s) office said it had begun an unfair trade practice inquiry comprising 60 economies, also comprising the European Union and America’s Iran war partner Israel, over what it called failures to take action on forced labour.
The announcement was seen as the Trump administration seeking to rebuild tariff pressure on countries around the world after the US Supreme Court ruled his so-called reciprocal tariff regime illegal last month.
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The president responded by imposing a blanket 10% tariff on most imports for 150 days under different powers.
He also vowed to find other ways to achieve his trade war goals.
The list of economies facing the investigation also include China, Russia, Australia, Canada, India, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – the latter two currently caught up in Iranian reprisals for the US-Israeli military action.
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US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement: “These investigations will determine whether foreign
governments have taken sufficient steps to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor and how the failure to eradicate these abhorrent practices impacts US workers and businesses”.
The announcement was made a day after the UTR launched an unfair trade practices investigation into 16 nations’ state support for industry.
This probe could also result in additional charges being imposed on their exports to the US. The economies cited included the European Union and China.
The investigations, while expected, will still irk US allies amid the Iran war and test relationships further given the energy-led inflation pressures the global economy is now facing due to the Middle East conflict.
On that point, Mr Trump’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent told Sky’s Wilfred Frost in an exclusive interview on Thursday: “I think, if going back to the tariff level that we previously had is going to take an ally offside, then they weren’t allies.”
He added: “Everyone knew we had telegraphed well in advance that, since the Supreme Court hearing, that we believe that the Supreme Court will rule in our favour, but in case it doesn’t, be advised, this is how we are going to do it.
“So we had a substantial communications policy in advance. We told everyone this is how we will reconstruct the tariff wall and I think everyone’s well briefed and well aware of it.”
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M r Greer said he hoped to conclude both investigations before the temporary tariff regime expires in July.
That timeframe, he said, included the possibility of remedies being agreed to avert the need for penalties.
The law being used to set the investigations in motion allows tariffs to be used, without Congressional approval, if a country or trading bloc is found to be placing the US at a disadvantage.
