The US has launched a sweeping investigations into 16 trading partners, including China, Japan, India, and the EU to probe and resolve the “unfair foreign trade practices”, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer said in a statement on March 11.Greer announced the initiation of investigations regarding the acts, policies and practices of various economies under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 relating to structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors, as per the statement.The investigations will determine whether those acts, policies and practices are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict US commerce.”The US 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.He said Trump administration’s reindustrialisation efforts continue to face significant challenges due to foreign economies’ structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors.”Across numerous sectors, many US trading partners are producing more goods than they can consume domestically. This overproduction displaces existing US domestic production or prevents investment and expansion in US manufacturing production that otherwise would have been brought online,” he further said.Greer further added that US has lost substantial domestic production capacity or has fallen worryingly behind foreign competitors in many sectors.Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (Trade Act), is designed to address unfair foreign practices affecting US commerce. Section 301 may be used to respond to unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discriminatory foreign government practices that burden or restrict US commerce. Under Section 302(b) of the Trade Act, the USTR may self-initiate an investigation under Section 301.An investigation under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act examines whether the acts, policies, or practices of a foreign country are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict US commerce.