Do not change de minimis through the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, 130 House members told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month, in a letter led by the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee chairman and ranking member. Members of both parties have panned the idea of a reciprocal de minimis in the NAFTA rewrite. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, recently said that the $800 threshold will not be changed through the implementing legislation (see 1910290048).
President Donald Trump told a Wall Street Journal White House reporter that he's been fully briefed by the U.S. trade representative on the issue of auto tariffs, and said he will make a decision very soon on whether he will delay imposing tariffs on imported cars and car parts.
On a day when more than two dozen House Republicans tweeted that their chamber should pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- most contrasting the impeachment movement with the lack of action on the trade deal -- the Democrats' No. 2 said his party's members want to finish negotiations with the U.S. trade representative and get the bill under consideration.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said a bill reforming Section 232 won't be introduced in his committee until after the Senate votes on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, because, he said, that vote is a political complication for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Grassley, who was responding to a question from International Trade Today Nov. 12, said he doesn't think Wyden has a problem with the NAFTA rewrite, but that "it's a problem for Democrats generally, and I think he's got that to work with, and needs more time on 232. And I’m willing to give him more time, because I don’t see how I can move productively ahead without his cooperation."
Members of Congress who are the Congressional-Executive Commission on China members asked the acting CBP commissioner to issue more withhold release orders for textiles or other goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang province, where about a million Uighur Muslims are held in internment camps. The senators and representatives noted that CBP did block the imports of Heitan Taida Apparel Company, and said that sent an important message, but much more should be done.
President Donald Trump said everybody thinks it makes sense for the executive branch to be able to hike tariffs on trading partners to the same levels those countries tax the corresponding American products. This proposal, the Reciprocal Trade Act (see 1901240017), was introduced by a Republican who left his office in the middle of the term to work as a CNN talking head. Trump acknowledged that it cannot pass unless Republicans retake the majority in the House of Representatives.
Outgoing European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker said he doesn't believe there will be tariffs on European autos this month. The U.S. trade representative is supposed to report to Donald Trump on Nov. 14 on whether there have been enough concessions resulting from talks with Japan and the European Union that the domestic auto industry is no longer imperiled by imports from those regions.
A 17-month bipartisan investigation by the Senate Finance Committee has concluded that the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act should be amended to help companies combat the sales of counterfeit goods.
NEW YORK -- Moises Kalach, leader of the Mexican Coalition for USMCA and vice president of a textile conglomerate in Mexico, said his organization has met with 172 House offices and 30 Senate offices, and has particularly targeted 94 House Democrats -- from border states, moderates, Hispanics, pro-free trade, or on the Ways and Means Committee (many members fit more than one category).
NEW YORK -- Companies hoping to avoid Section 301 tariffs by a shift in origin should research CBP rulings first, United States Fashion Industry Association customs counsel John Pellegrini said. And if the product they are importing is even a little different from what's in a ruling, ask for a new ruling. "It's a time to play conservative," said Pellegrini, who was speaking at the Nov. 7 USFIA Trade and Transportation conference.