The 16 US trading partners hit by Trump’s ‘301’ probes

The United States on Wednesday said it was launching unfair trade practice investigations into 16 key trading partners, part of an urgent effort by President Donald Trump's administration to restore tariffs recently struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court as illegal.

The probes are being conducted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which empowers the U.S. Trade Representative to impose tariffs or other retaliatory measures against trading partners determined to employ unfair trade practices.

The administration alleges the 16 all employ policies that disadvantage U.S. goods producers, resulting in all but one of them running substantial goods trade surpluses with the U.S. 

Here are the 16 subject to the investigation:

Country/Area Goods trade Goods trade Change 

surplus/defici surplus/defici ($ mln)

t t 2024 ($ mln)

2025 ($ mln)

European Union 218,750 235,874 -17,124

China 202,071 295,515 -93,444

Mexico 196,913 171,491 25,422

Vietnam 178,183 123,457 54,726

Taiwan 146,756 73,718 73,038

Thailand 71,856 45,492 26,364

Japan 63,883 69,392 -5,509

India 58,216 45,801 12,415

Korea, South 56,416 65,967 -9,551

Switzerland 34,304 38,283 -3,979

Malaysia 30,791 24,854 5,937

Indonesia 23,716 17,893 5,823

Cambodia 14,928 12,327 2,601

Bangladesh 7,146 6,063 1,083

Norway 2,069 2,043 26

Singapore -3,553 -1,855 -1,698

Source: U.S. Census Bureau trade data