China's commerce ministry on March 27 initiated two probes, one into U.S. actions affecting global trade and another into U.S. actions impacting trade in "green products," including curbs on imports and technology cooperation. A ministry spokesperson said the two probes were a reciprocal response to the two recent U.S. Section 301 probes into industrial overcapacity and forced labor in China.

After the U.S. Supreme Court in late February struck down U.S. President Donald Trump's ability to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy tariffs, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced two new Section 301 investigations into many countries, which could help replace IEEPA tariffs.