The Fish and Wildlife Service is removing the Colorado hookless cactus (Sclerocactus glaucus) from the endangered and threatened plants list upon determination that the currently listed entity is actually two species: Sclerocactus glaucus and Sclerocactus dawsoniae, which was previously identified as S. dawsonii in the proposed rule.
The Department of Energy is withdrawing energy conservation standard amendments that went into effect on Jan. 21, citing a law signed by President Donald Trump on May 9 calling for the withdrawal of the changes.
The Department of Energy is once again delaying the effective date of a recently published final rule amending the test procedures for central air conditioners and heat pumps, it said in a Federal Register notice. The effective date is now July 7.
Section 232 investigations are "moving much, much quicker" in the second Trump administration, trade lawyer Daniel Cannistra said May 14 on a podcast.
Thea Lee, head of the Bureau of International Labor Affairs during the Biden administration, complained that the tariff approach of the Trump administration ignores forced labor, and that the Department of Government Efficiency ended all the programs ILAB funded around the world. Those programs aimed to convince local societies to end child labor, to help foreign countries improve working conditions, and they funded research on the best ways to achieve these goals. The grants totaled more than $575 million, and some were scheduled to run through 2026, 2027 or 2028.
A group of former U.S. trade representatives, spanning the presidencies of George H.W. Bush through Barack Obama, offered support for trade deals that expand market access for American producers, though they differed on how best to achieve this.
The Fossil Energy Office of the Department of Energy has issued a direct final rule saying that the agency has amended the regulations for administrative procedures related to the import and export of natural gas. These amendments seek to update and streamline the general requirements for filing documents with the office, according to a Federal Register notice.
The Department of Energy is planning to withdraw or revise a number energy efficiency standards, reporting requirements and determinations that products are covered under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, according to several Federal Register notices.
New economic research shows that universal tariffs will not be an effective revenue source for the U.S. government, economists with the Peterson Institute for International Economics said during an event April 30.
Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who served in that role in President Donald Trump's first term, told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that he thinks "there’s a reasonable chance the CIT would enjoin" tariffs levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. Trump used IEEPA to levy 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over fentanyl and migration, as well as 20% tariffs on China over fentanyl, and used it to levy 10% tariffs on countries other than those three, and an additional 125% tariffs on Chinese goods.