The Aluminum Association cheered the Mexican decision to apply tariffs to 544 tariff lines in aluminum and aluminum products. The tariffs are as low as 5% or 10% on some products, but are 25% and 35% on most.
The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America told President Joe Biden that removing tariffs on shoes doesn't require public policy reviews but "just the stroke of your pen to help lower shoe prices."
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing car manufacturers, recently wrote the White House to say that if Cleveland-Cliffs purchases U.S. Steel, more than two-thirds of steel used in vehicles would be produced by the resulting company. Cleveland-Cliffs has been agitating against Nippon Steel, which made a higher bid for U.S. Steel.
Descartes Systems Group is buying export compliance solutions and content provider OCR Services, it said March 28. Descartes acquired OCR for about $90 million.
The American Apparel and Footwear Association, in addition to expressing hope that the U.S. government will support measures to end the gang violence convulsing Haiti, asked the leaders of the House and Senate to renew trade preferences programs scheduled to expire at the end of September 2025.
FedEx rejected Prosperous America CEO Michael Stumo's characterization of the company as being involved in drug trafficking. Stumo on March 6 accused both FedEx and UPS of being "drug mules" (see 2403060089), because they are conduits for fentanyl entering in the de minimis environment. The company "has extensive security measures in place to deter and detect the use of our networks for illegal purposes, and we have a long history of close collaboration with law enforcement and regulatory authorities to quickly identify and prevent unlawful uses of our networks," a FedEx spokesperson said. "This includes illegal shipments such as illicit fentanyl."
The Wall Street Journal reported that a LAN transformer that allows cars to communicate to networks, made by Sichuan Jingweida Technology, was the reason Audis and Porsches couldn't enter the U.S. until that part was replaced. That firm is on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's entity list.
FloraTrace is launching new insurance coverage for importers facing unforeseen expenses due to enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, it said in a March 4 news release. Offered through its subsidiary Rezylient, the coverage will be triggered by receipt of a UFLPA detention notice, with covered losses potentially including storage of a detained entry, attorney fees, consultant fees, demurrage, drayage fees, exam fees, and extra costs and expenses including supply chain tracing subject to agreement by underwriters, Rezylient said on its website. The insurance may also be paired with FloraTrace’s origin testing and verification services, providing “financial protection against unforeseen detentions and disruptions in the supply chain, while also offering importers a proactive tool for risk management,” the news release said.
More Canadian companies are shifting their supply chains to run through the U.S. so their products can be exported from America rather than Canada, said John Boscariol, a trade lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault. Boscariol, speaking during a virtual event this week hosted by the American Bar Association, said U.S. export rules are more flexible than Canadian ones, and companies are finding it easier to sell certain items to U.S. consignees rather than ship directly from Canada to another foreign country.
National Association of Manufacturers CEO Jay Timmons said that all of his 250 members want liberalized trade, and said he didn't understand why a simple issue like the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill has been hung up in partisan conflict for three years.