The United States has initiated an unfair trade practice investigation into Japan and other countries, the second in as many days, this time for failure to address the use of forced labor.

As with the earlier move, which dealt with possible overcapacity in 16 jurisdictions, the most recent inquiry is examining practices in a long list of economies.

¡°These investigations will determine whether foreign governments have taken sufficient steps to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor and how the failure to eradicate these abhorrent practices impacts U.S. workers and businesses,¡± U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Thursday in a statement.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the law under which the two investigations are being conducted, requires the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to evaluate whether trade practices in other countries are unfair or discriminatory. The president can impose tariffs or implement nontariff measures based on the findings.

The statute has been used in the past by the administrations of U.S. Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden when imposing tariffs on China.

¡°Considering the number of countries involved and which countries they are, we do not interpret this as something specifically targeting Japan,¡± trade minister Ryosei Akazawa said Friday in Tokyo.

¡°While investigations conducted under Section 301 could, depending on the outcome, lead to certain measures being taken, we have again conveyed that any such actions should not leave Japan in a less favorable position than what was agreed between Japan and the United States last year.¡±

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20 that Trump had exceeded his authority in the use of emergency powers to impose ¡°reciprocal¡± tariffs.

The Trump administration quickly moved to impose 10% duties under a different law, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to levy tariffs of up to 15% for a maximum of 150 days, unless extended by Congress.

The investigation announced Wednesday in Washington focuses on 16 jurisdictions: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The investigation announced the following day will cover 60 economies in total, including the 16 from the first list.

In a trade deal struck last July, Japan agreed to measures to increase certain U.S. imports and committed $550 billion to key technologies and industries in the U.S. in exchange for lower tariffs.

The U.S. agreed that pharmaceuticals and semiconductors would be charged tariffs no higher than the lowest rate charged on the same imports from other countries, and that aircraft from Japan would not be subject to duties.