The head of the trade committee in the EU parliament said one of the sticking points in the negotiations with the U.S. is whether 50% tariffs on steel and 25% tariffs on cars and car parts continue to be collected as the two parties move from an agreement in principle to a detailed agreement.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC July 8 that the Section 232 investigation and report on copper undertaken by his department is finished, and has been sent to the president, and that the proclamation will be issued within a day or two. He said a 50% tariff on copper-- the same as for aluminum and steel -- is "likely to be put into place the end of July, maybe August 1."
At a luncheon July 9 with the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau, President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter if he supported a renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, so that it doesn't end in September.
Georgetown Law professor Jennifer Hillman, a former International Trade Commissioner and a former general counsel in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, predicted that the Supreme Court may make a decision on the legality of reciprocal tariffs and other tariffs imposed via the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. Hillman, who was speaking on a July 8 webinar about tariffs hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, has been helping challengers to those tariffs, and she said there's "a very good chance that the legal challenges will at least temporarily derail the tariffs imposed under the [law]."
As promised, President Donald Trump posted screenshots of more form letters on reciprocal tariff rates for countries' products that will begin Aug. 1. The letters were aimed at small trading partners; the largest, the Philippines, was notified it would see a 20% rate, up from 17% in April.
President Donald Trump posted a letter to Brazil's president, telling him: "Due in part to Brazil's insidious attacks on Free Elections and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans," Brazilian exports will face a 50% reciprocal tariff on Aug. 1.
Harris Sliwoski, an international law firm, published a blog post noting that the mention in the Vietnam trade deal framework of 40% tariffs for "transshipped" goods from Vietnam is designed to reduce China's role in supply chains.
President Donald Trump, at a Cabinet meeting conducted in front of the press on July 8, said that an announcement on lumber tariffs or quotas "just came out," adding, "now today, we're doing copper. I believe the tariff on copper we're gonna make that 50%."
A spokesman for the European Commission said the EU is not viewing the new Aug. 1 effective date of higher country-specific reciprocal tariffs as a sign they have more weeks to reach an agreement with the U.S. on tariffs. "Our aim remains to find an agreement before the ninth of July," Olof Gill told reporters in Brussels on July 7.
Two days before the now extended pause on higher country-specific reciprocal tariffs was to end (see 2507070054), President Donald Trump shared screenshots of letters he is sending to trading partners large -- Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia -- and small, informing them what rates their goods will face at the border, starting Aug. 1.