China is "evaluating" whether to begin trade talks with the U.S. after the Trump administration recently sent messages to Beijing in a bid to start negotiations about recent tariffs imposed by the two nations, China's Ministry of Commerce said May 2, according to an unofficial translation of a portion of a press conference. Senior U.S. officials "have repeatedly expressed their willingness to negotiate with China on tariffs," a ministry spokesperson said. "China is currently evaluating this."

Canada this week published new guidance and other resources to help Canadian companies facing increased costs from “unjustified tariffs” imposed by the U.S., including a new webpage for understanding how businesses can secure tariff-free treatment for certain goods under USMCA. Canada said it’s “providing new and comprehensive information on rules of origin and customs procedures under” the trade deal, including a new webpage on understanding USMCA compliance, “self-serve resources for problem solving related to tariffs,” and a list of federal and provincial Canadian support programs available to businesses. The country also said small and medium-size companies can call the government’s new hotline on weekdays for information on USMCA.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum posted on X on May 1 that she had a very positive conversation with President Donald Trump. In Spanish, she wrote that they agreed that the U.S. treasury and commerce secretaries would continue to work with Mexico's finance and economy ministers on options to improve the trade balance between the two countries and advance outstanding issues.

The Chinese government has reportedly added U.S. ethane imports to a growing list of unannounced exemptions to its universal 125% tariff rate on U.S. products.

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman that she had a meeting with USTR Jamieson Greer "yesterday that was a little bit comforting," but that the current 10% U.S. tariff on most countries, plus 25% tariffs on cars, steel and aluminum and some products from Canada and Mexico, and 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, if it lasts, will result in global merchandise trade falling by 0.2%. Before the actions, the WTO forecast a 2.7% growth in goods trade this year.

The prime minister of Thailand had said top officials would travel to Washington to talk tariffs on April 23, but according to Reuters and Bloomberg reporting, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said the talks were postponed after the U.S. asked Thailand to address unspecified issues.

South Korea's Customs Service has discovered a sharp uptick in country of origin violations for goods headed to the U.S., it announced in an April 21 press release.

China is raising tariff levels to 125% for U.S. origin goods in response to President Donald Trump's April 9 decision to raise tariffs to the same rate for Chinese goods (see 2504090043).

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed concern over U.S. tariff policy but said it wants to pursue diplomacy and not "impose any retaliatory measures."

The EU announced on April 10 that it has placed its planned counter-tariffs on hold for 90 days following President Donald Trump's April 9 decision to withdraw his reciprocal tariffs on most countries (see 2504090069).