USTR To Hold Public Hearings This Week On Foreign Practices Tied To Excess Capacity

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said Monday that it will hold public hearings this week concerning its trade investigations into South Korea, China, Japan and 13 other countries related to "structural" excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the hearings are set to take place at the US International Trade Commission in Washington from Tuesday through Friday, as the office has been carrying out the investigations under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, which could result in tariffs or other measures.

Section 301 is a provision that allows the USTR to investigate unfair foreign trade practices on a country-by-country basis. The investigations were launched in March as the administration is pushing to replace the invalidated country-specific "reciprocal" tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court in February.

On the first day of the hearings, a South Korean official plans to explain Seoul's position on the trade investigations.

The official is expected to underscore that South Korea's industrial structure is anchored in market economy principles and that voluntary and proactive restructuring efforts are being made in sectors affected by global excess capacity, such as petrochemicals and steel.

Last month, the USTR held public hearings related to separate investigations into 60 economies, including South Korea, China and Japan, which it is carrying out to determine whether their governments have taken sufficient steps to ban the importation of goods produced with forced labour.

-- BERNAMA-YONHAP