Tariff policy has been changing so rapidly that CBP hasn't been able to dot all the i's and cross the t's before entries are subject to the new rules, and that's putting brokers in limbo at times, the customs committee chair for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America told an audience of brokers at NCBFAA's national conference this week.
House Democrats, left and center, introduced a bill that would roll back all the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act -- 10% global tariffs and those on Canada and Mexico -- and would require that most tariffs, quotas, tariff rate quotas or concessions receive approval from Congress before going into effect.
The pause on higher country-specific reciprocal tariffs for all covered countries except China took effect just after midnight on April 10, CBP said in a CSMS message.
The most unwavering defenders of President Donald Trump's "reciprocal tariffs" policy -- including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo. -- were a bit undercut during a four-hour hearing on the president's trade agenda, because Trump reacted to Treasury market volatility and backed down.
The decline of U.S. commercial shipbuilding -- and the fact that it's not cost-competitive with Japanese and South Korean shipbuilding -- must be rectified, the administration said, but the precise details of how that can be accomplished are yet to be determined.
Only 13 hours after reciprocal tariffs of 11% to 84% began, President Donald Trump said he is pausing the higher country-specific tariffs for 90 days -- except for China, whose total emergency tariff will go from 104% to 125%, according to a White House spokesperson. The baseline additional 10% tariff -- which applies to nearly all countries, but not Mexico and Canada -- remains in place.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the lead Republican on a bill that would prevent future executive tariffs from lasting more than 60 days without an approval in Congress, said on a phone call with reporters that it was a deliberate choice not to have the bill roll back Section 232 tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, Section 301 tariffs on China, or tariffs on nearly all countries under the guise of national emergencies.
After a resolution to roll back the tariffs on Canada passed the Senate, Senate Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are pushing for a similar vote to end reciprocal tariffs and a global 10% tariff, as are 26 Democrats in the House.
Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee mostly stood by President Donald Trump's dramatic tariff moves, though many emphasized that the result should be lower non-tariff barriers for U.S. agricultural exports, not a permanent tariff wall around the U.S. economy.
Momentum is building for a bill that would prevent President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs on lumber, semiconductors or medicines without congressional approval -- if the bill could overcome a presidential veto before those tariffs are imposed.