President Donald Trump, ahead of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, denied that his tariff actions against Canada and Mexico have killed USMCA, but also cast doubt on its future. He said USMCA "was a transitional deal" to move away from NAFTA, and said "we'll see what happens" with the renegotiation. He said it could be adjusted, or terminated.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a talk moderated by Mike Milken, a former trader pardoned by President Donald Trump for long-ago securities fraud, said that trade, tax cuts and deregulation are "interlocking parts of an engine designed to drive long-term investment in the American economy."
Both the Japanese government and Japanese reporters' coverage of Japan's more than two-hour talk with the U.S. trade representative, commerce secretary and treasury secretary describe politicians who are not in a hurry to settle to avoid 24% tariffs under the reciprocal tariff plan that is scheduled to take effect in early July.
President Donald Trump, in a social media post, complained that other countries are offering "all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States," and that Hollywood and other U.S. regions "are being devastated." He said this is national security threat. "It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!"
There "very well could be" a trade deal announced this week, President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled back from Florida to Washington on May 4, but he said these won't be tariff negotiations that lead to a signing ceremony, in most cases.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz told commerce deputy secretary nominee Paul Dabbar that, as "an experienced dealmaker," he hopes Dabbar will help to secure "freer and fairer trade with our allies, not across-the-board protectionism" -- and to also argue for that approach.
Hogan Lovells lawyers, speaking to an audience from the Massachusetts Export Center, said that conservative Supreme Court justices' desire to curtail executive decision-making through the "major questions doctrine" could put a stop to tariffs on countries around the world levied via the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
The Senate had a tie vote, 49-49, as it took up the question of revoking the trade deficit emergency President Donald Trump declared, which underpins his decision to put 10% tariffs on every country except Canada, Mexico and China, and 125% on China.
Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who helped Republicans recapture the House majority in 2022, said Congress will seek to intervene if the administration seeks to re-implement the high country-specific reciprocal tariffs that it had planned but paused for 90 days.
The nominee to lead CBP, former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott, told the Senate Finance Committee that during high school in Nogales, Arizona, a lot of his friends' parents were customs brokers, so he saw the importance of free-flowing goods across borders.