WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today welcomed the Trump administration’s launch of sweeping new Section 301 investigations into structural excess capacity in global manufacturing sectors, as well as a separate set of investigations examining whether countries are failing to take action against forced labor in their supply chains.
The investigations, announced by U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, will examine whether policies and practices in major manufacturing economies—including China, the European Union, Japan, India, Mexico, and others—are contributing to structural overproduction that burdens U.S. commerce. A second investigation will examine roughly 60 countries to determine whether they maintain adequate legal frameworks to prohibit the import of goods made with forced labor, similar to the protections contained in Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930.
“The Trump administration’s decision to launch these investigations led by Ambassador Greer reflects a serious and long-overdue effort to address the structural forces that have hollowed out large parts of America’s manufacturing base,” said Jon Toomey, President of CPA. “For decades, many foreign governments have pursued industrial strategies built on subsidies, suppressed wages, state-owned enterprises, and other policies that generate massive excess production and push that surplus into global markets—a surplus that has been largely absorbed by the U.S market with devastating consequences for American producers and workers. These investigations recognize that those practices directly undermine U.S. manufacturing and investment.”
CPA noted that the administration’s focus on structural overcapacity and global trade imbalances reflects concerns the organization has highlighted for many years. In its research and policy work, CPA has consistently warned that persistent U.S. balance-of-payments deficits—driven largely by chronic trade deficits in goods, which has reached more than $1 trillion in recent years—have contributed to the erosion of America’s manufacturing base and the loss of millions of industrial jobs. Foreign industrial policies that generate excess production and push that surplus into global markets have been a major driver of these imbalances.
CPA has previously outlined a range of policy tools designed to restore balance to the global trading system, including the use of tariffs and capital-flow measures such as a Market Access Charge (MAC) on foreign capital inflows to address structural distortions that keep the U.S. dollar overvalued and sustain large trade deficits. The organization said the administration’s decision to investigate structural overcapacity and unfair labor practices represents an important step toward confronting the systemic policies that have long disadvantaged American producers.
“Section 301 is a powerful tool for addressing foreign policies that distort global markets and disadvantage American producers,” Toomey added. “When foreign governments explicitly pursue overproduction and then export the resulting surplus into the United States, the effect is to displace domestic output and deter new investment in American manufacturing.”
CPA also praised the administration for examining forced labor practices as part of its broader trade enforcement agenda.
“Ensuring that global supply chains are free from forced labor is both a moral and economic imperative,” Toomey said. “Countries that fail to prohibit the use of forced labor should not be allowed to gain a competitive advantage in the U.S. market.”
The administration’s actions represent an important step toward restoring balance to global manufacturing trade and strengthening the economic foundation of U.S. national security. Foreign overcapacity and unfair labor practices have distorted global markets for decades. By confronting these structural challenges head-on, the administration is demonstrating its commitment to rebuilding American industry and ensuring that U.S. workers and manufacturers compete on fair terms.
CPA looks forward to participating in the Section 301 investigation process and providing input to ensure that the resulting actions strengthen domestic manufacturing capacity and supply chain resilience.
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