Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who has traditionally been a defender of the current law on de minimis (see 1907300048), said that while he's not up for lowering the $800 threshold, he would be willing to change the low value import process to combat fentanyl, as the White House is proposing.
A bipartisan pair of senators fleshed out a trade facilitation framework released in early June (see 2406100015) with legislative text that authorizes spending to create a true single window and modernize ACE, as well as details of how duty drawback could change.
The White House is asking Congress to pass a law that "would require importers of small packages to provide additional information to Customs and Border Protection officials so that we can keep track of these packages and better detect and identify packages that are carrying illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and related machinery," and is giving agencies 30 days to review public-private partnerships with "shipping companies, freight forwarding companies, e-commerce entities" and others to see how effective they are in stopping the distribution of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, and asking for recommendations on how to close "key gaps" in those partnerships.
Higher or new Section 301 tariffs on lithium-ion batteries for EVs, lead-acid battery parts, golf-cart like EVs, electric cars, vans and buses, plug-in hybrids, ship-to-shore cranes, solar cells, solar panels, syringes, needles, three categories of disposable masks, 26 critical minerals, more than 100 HTS codes covering iron and steel products, and 31 aluminum HTS codes, all on imports from China, will not go up on Aug. 1, as originally announced two months ago (see 2405220072).
The U.S. government, aware that many goods made with forced labor are inputs to finished goods, is working both to identify those inputs and to help importers understand that their goods could be banned from import as traceability becomes more possible.
Senate appropriators marked up a bill that would spend $2 million more a year on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and $4.1 million more on the International Trade Commission, in each case matching the president's budget request.
African journalists asked Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Constance Hamilton and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of African Affairs Joy Basu if their countries would stay in or return to the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a bill that would require the president to impose tariffs of at least 500% on all products imported from countries that buy oil or petroleum products from Iran.
At a field hearing in Michigan, House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and committee member Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., emphasized electric vehicle battery maker Gotion's ties to suppliers that use Uyghur forced labor, and questioned why Gotion should be allowed to open factories in their states. Gotion declined to send a representative to testify, they said.
A coalition of business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the E-Merchants Trade Council, the National Foreign Trade Council and the Express Association of America, is pushing back against the de minimis legislation that was approved in the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this year, arguing that it would be "a massive cost to the federal government," shift trade to the mail, and create congestion at airports and a wave of abandoned packages.