Congress has not yet finished the text of the government spending bill that needs to pass this week, but House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said in the early afternoon that several trade provisions he had hoped would hitch a ride weren't included. He said his understanding was that the African Growth and Opportunity Act wouldn't be attached, nor would the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program.
Donald Trump's return to the White House brings a "lack of predictability," Baker McKenzie attorneys said during a webinar last week on how threatened tariffs could affect countries around the globe.
The Congressional Research Service, in an updated report last week on the ban on goods made with forced labor in the Trade Act of 1930, highlighted how the U.S. has used negotiations in free trade agreements to try to expand the bans on goods made with forced labor.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to make sure that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service doesn't prematurely end its ban on livestock imports from Mexico.
A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit told the Court of International Trade that it has now twice wrongly told an importer that its first-sale price method to determine the duty level of its cookware was prohibited.
Flexport employees advised attendees on a webinar this week to prepare for a scaling back of de minimis, in case the rulemaking that removes goods subject to Section 301 tariffs moves forward.
The U.S. requested a panel under the rapid response mechanism in the USMCA for the third time to investigate a Canadian mining facility located in Mexico. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that the U.S. and Mexico were unable to come to an agreement and so "the United States therefore has determined that it is appropriate to request a panel to verify the facility’s compliance with Mexican labor laws."
Congress will pass a spending bill before leaving next week, and while everyone wants to attach their legislation to it, the prospect for Haitian trade preferences to get a ride seems relatively strong.
A discussion draft modifying a carbon border tax bill narrows the product list, removing fossil fuels, chemicals and other goods that were original targets of the Senate bill, which was introduced a year ago (see 2311030006).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is hiking tariffs on Chinese solar wafers and polysilicon to 50% and Chinese tungsten products covered by Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 8101.94.00, 8101.99.10 and 8101.99.80 will face 25% tariffs, beginning Jan. 1.