The Trump administration is investigating excess capacity in steel and other goods to impose Section 301 tariffs.

Posted by Behind the Bastards, Oct 3, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 5 support
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 85%

Behind the BastardsOct 3, 2026

As of 2026-10-03, the USTR was running a Section 301 investigation into structural excess capacity across 16 trading partners, launched March 2026, with steel among the listed sectors, and the probe was still ongoing with tariffs expected to follow. The extracted claim is a faithful paraphrase of the post, which described these investigations as already underway.

This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.

What was said

… Again, we're one tariff cycle behind with the Section 301 tariffs, right? He's already using Holly Smoot for the Canada tariffs. Now, it is worth noting this is part of the reason I'm talking about the Section 301 tariffs, is that Trump is also threatening to do a different set of Section 301 tariffs. To do these, they're called quote unquote excess capacity tariffs, that he's had these, like, investigations going for a while now. So excess capacity is, it is a thing that exists in the world. It refers to, you know, steel is the context in which it comes up the most. …

Behind the Bastards · Oct 3, 2026· from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Supports. Reuters reports that the Trump administration launched a Section 301 probe into excess industrial capacity in 16 major trading partners in March 2026, after the Supreme Court struck down much of its tariff program.[1]

Supports. The USTR fact sheet describes Section 301 investigations into structural excess capacity in manufacturing sectors, with an illustrative sector list that includes steel and aluminum.[2]

Supports. Fox Rothschild lists steel among the sectors under the excess-capacity Section 301 investigation, which it says targets 16 economies including China, the EU and Japan.[4]

Supports. A CRS update from August 2026 and a Baird analysis from the same month say the excess-capacity investigation remains ongoing, with tariffs expected to follow, which places it as in progress on the claim's date.[3][5]

Context. The post's own description of excess-capacity tariffs as investigations "going for a while now" matches the record; the probe was launched in March, about seven months before the post.[1]