Trump admin to announce trade investigations, aimed at replacing IEEPA tariffs: Reports

The Trump administration is expected to announce as early as Wednesday new trade investigations, with the goal of replacing reciprocal tariffs recently ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, according to reports.

The probes will be conducted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

That law permits a president to slap tariffs on imported goods from other nations that are found to have engaged in unfair trade practices.

Section 301 tariffs could replace the reciprocal tariffs on most of the world’s nations that President Donald Trump imposed on them last year without authorization from Congress. Neither the Times nor the Journal indicated what countries would be targeted in the expected Section 301 probes.

The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling Feb. 20, said Trump did not have the authority to levy such duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, as he had claimed he did.

Trump, within hours of that decision, signed an executive order imposing a new 10% “global tariff” under Section 122 of the Trade Act.

Section 122 tariffs expire within 150 days.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in an interview with CNBC last week, predicted that by August, U.S. tariffs would return to the levels in effect before the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Bessent said that in the coming months, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department will complete trade-related studies that would allow them to impose more tariffs.

“It’s my strong belief that the tariff rates will be back to their old rate within five months, and those are very fulsome authorities,” Bessent said.

“They have survived more than 4,000 legal challenges. They are more slow-moving, but they are more robust,” he said.