House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was told by the administration that no trade deal with China will be reached this week, potentially paving the way for President Donald Trump to increase tariffs by May 10. Pelosi, interviewed May 8 during a Washington Post Live webcast, said she was told by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on May 6 that China planned to “take a walk” from any agreement proposed this week. A rejected deal from China could result in increased tariffs on Chinese goods; the tariffs already are set to rise from 10 percent to 25 percent on May 10 (see 1905050001). When asked if she is confident there is any way a deal could get done this week, Pelosi said no. “Let me just say that, first of all, I never believed the Chinese were going to honor what they said they were going to do,” she said.
The Trump administration clearly underestimated the number of product exclusion requests that would be filed under the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, said Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Matthew Borman, during an April 2 Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the Commerce Department’s 2019 budget request. Borman said Commerce’s prediction was based on the number of exclusion requests it received during a “steel safeguard action” taken during 2001. Borman said that about 6,000 requests were submitted then. “Obviously there turned out to be quite a few more in the current process,” Borman said, adding that Commerce has processed more than 45,000 of the estimated 85,000 exclusion requests it has received.
American manufacturers expect a trade deal between the U.S. and China to be announced within “the next couple of weeks” but think tariffs on Chinese goods will likely remain in place for longer, said Ryan Ong, director of international economic affairs policy for the National Association of Manufacturers. Ong, speaking at an export controls and customs information session at KPMG offices in Washington on March 6, said the increasingly “intense negotiations” between the U.S. and China during the last few months suggest a deal is close.
Several industry representatives voiced frustrations about e-commerce’s impact on U.S. importers at a March 1 CBP meeting (see 1902110020), calling for a more streamlined filing system and a crackdown on foreign sellers. A common complaint by the industry leaders was a lack of transparency from foreign companies when they sell through online marketplaces. The public meeting, titled “The 21st Century Customs Framework,” featured multiple panels of industry representatives offering suggestions and criticisms of the current customs system to government officials from CBP, the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission, among others.