April 15, 2026
Submitted via USTR Portal
The Honorable Jamieson Greer
United States Trade Representative
600 17th Street, NW
Office of the United States Trade Representative
Washington, DC 20508
RE: Docket No. USTR-2026-0133, Initiation of Section 301 Investigations of Acts, Policies, and Practices of Various Economies Related to the Failure To Impose and Effectively Enforce a Prohibition on the Importation of Goods Produced With Forced Labor
Dear Ambassador Greer,
On March 12, 2026, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published a notice of initiation of investigations (USTR-2026-0133) under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to examine Acts, Policies, and Practices of Various Economies Related to the Failure To Impose and Effectively Enforce a Prohibition on the Importation of Goods Produced With Forced Labor, which included a request for comments from interested parties.
The Responsible Battery Coalition (RBC) is a coalition of companies, academics, and organizations committed to the responsible management of the batteries of today and tomorrow. Founded in 2017, The RBC was created to advance the responsible production, transport, sale, use, reuse, recycling, and resource recovery of transportation, industrial, and stationary batteries, as well as other energy storage devices. RBC’s diverse membership represents the entire battery lifecycle and includes the world’s leading battery manufacturers, recyclers, automotive fleet management, automotive retail, and original equipment manufacturers. For more information: https://www.responsiblebatterycoalition.org/.
RBC welcomes USTR’s investigation into the failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the use of forced labor to produce imported goods as an important extension of the Administration’s broader agenda to protect domestic manufacturing, create high-paying American jobs, and support broader national and energy security goals.
This investigation is particularly relevant to the domestic battery manufacturing industry and to American consumers. The United States is home to many companies involved in the battery manufacturing industry or its supply chain, across different chemistries, but they all face pressure from foreign competitors who may be taking advantage of forced labor to artificially lower their production costs and, by extension, undercut the prices that American businesses are able to offer. Without effective enforcement, both within the United States and by other countries, American businesses will not be competing on a level playing field and will remain under constant threat from these competitors that are benefiting through the direct exploitation of workers.
Key Points
RBC supports the fundamental objective of the investigations: to address the continued presence of forced labor globally and the failure of certain economies to effectively prohibit imports produced using such practices. Forced labor violates core human rights and creates severe distortions in global markets by allowing exploitative producers to externalize costs that responsible manufacturers must internalize. Battery supply chains are susceptible to this issue, particularly due to China’s excess capacity in both producing finished batteries and the raw materials and other inputs needed to produce them, as well as its overcapacity for recycling used batteries back into input materials.
As USTR correctly notes, U.S. law has long prohibited the importation of goods made in whole or in part with forced labor, reflecting humanitarian, foreign policy, and national security concerns. Effective enforcement of these prohibitions is essential to protecting workers and ensuring fair competition for U.S. manufacturers that comply with labor, environmental, and human rights standards. This will require enhanced enforcement on U.S. imports to ensure compliance with applicable U.S. law and, more importantly, effective engagement to encourage known or suspected countries where forced labor remains prevalent to address that issue within their respective borders.
While supporting strong enforcement, RBC urges USTR to ensure that any remedies adopted pursuant to these investigations are narrowly tailored, evidence‑based, and sector‑specific. Remedies that are overly broad risk capturing compliant producers and materials that are not associated with forced labor practices.
Section 301 investigations are intended to address specific acts, policies, or practices that are unreasonable or discriminatory and that burden or restrict U.S. commerce. Remedies should therefore be grounded in demonstrable evidence linking specific sectors, products, or regulatory failures to forced labor risks, rather than in generalized measures that may disrupt lawful trade without meaningfully advancing labor protections.
RBC encourages USTR to ensure close alignment between any Section 301 actions and existing U.S. forced‑labor enforcement mechanisms, including:
These tools already provide robust authorities to address forced labor risks. Overlapping or conflicting requirements could create compliance uncertainty without improving enforcement outcomes. Section 301 actions should complement—rather than duplicate or undermine—these established frameworks.
Domestic battery manufacturers produce products essential to the U.S. automotive sector, energy security, and the broader industrial base. Many of these supply chains, particularly those involving recycled and secondary materials, are among the most tightly regulated and sustainable in the world.
However, despite the number of regulations in place for domestic battery supply chains, there are concerns that countries and companies are identifying and exploiting loopholes that undermine U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. This can manifest in several ways, including as direct imports into the U.S. with importers not conducting necessary due diligence to ensure that imported products comply with U.S. law, as imports that pass through other countries before being imported into the U.S. to obscure its origins, or as imports through subsidiary companies in third-party countries that retain the benefits of lower cost production linked to parent companies. Additionally, there are subsidiary companies operating in the U.S. linked to foreign companies on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List.
USTR must address these loopholes through enhanced enforcement efforts to ensure that U.S. battery producers are not competing against companies with lower production costs due to the use of forced labor.
Furthermore, trade measures that inadvertently restrict access to responsibly sourced or recycled inputs could also undermine U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, circular‑economy objectives, and domestic investment. RBC urges USTR to distinguish clearly between high‑risk primary extraction supply chains and closed‑loop recycling systems that are already subject to rigorous oversight and traceability.
RBC also notes that poorly calibrated trade actions can raise input costs for U.S. manufacturers without necessarily improving labor conditions in the affected economies. Sudden or excessive cost increases risk slowing domestic manufacturing expansion and undercutting the Administration’s objectives related to reshoring, reindustrialization, and supply‑chain resilience. While corrective actions can encourage improvements in labor conditions and the development of alternative supply chains, these changes can take time, and implementing strict corrective measures that do not account for the timing of the process can cause further harm.
Accordingly, USTR should carefully weigh the downstream impacts of any proposed remedies on U.S. producers, particularly capital‑intensive manufacturers making long‑term investments in domestic facilities and workforce development.
RBC appreciates USTR’s solicitation of public comments and encourages continued transparency and engagement throughout these investigations. Clear standards for determining non‑compliance, opportunities for companies to demonstrate due diligence, and ongoing dialogue with affected industries are essential to developing effective, balanced remedies.
The formal administrative process required under Section 301 offers an important opportunity for meaningful private-sector input that can help prevent unintended consequences while strengthening enforcement against forced labor.
Conclusion
RBC strongly supports USTR’s efforts to eliminate forced labor from global supply chains and to protect U.S. commerce from unfair and unethical trade practices. At the same time, RBC urges USTR to pursue targeted, evidence‑based remedies that strengthen existing enforcement tools, safeguard critical, compliant supply chains, and preserve incentives for U.S. manufacturing investment.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and for considering RBC’s perspective on this important issue. RBC welcomes the opportunity to engage with USTR as it continues its investigation. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact Steve Christensen, Executive Director of the Responsible Battery Coalition, at steve@responsiblebattery.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Steve Christensen
Executive Director
Responsible Battery Coalition
1455 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC, 20004
