In the first article of this series—How Section 301 Investigations and Tariffs Have Impacted Trade—I gave an introduction to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a trade law with a long history and one which has been used more frequently during the Trump administration. I traced the use of the law through the founding of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the historic Japanese semiconductor investigations in the mid 1980s.
Today I'll look at Special 301, which emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s to address trade barriers to U.S. companies due to the ineffective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.