White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders singled out the nomination of Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan for permanent commissioner as an example of "the historic obstruction of Senate Democrats." Sanders discussed the issue before taking questions during a March 1 press briefing. "Two-hundred and seventy-six days ago, Kevin McAleenan was nominated to be commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection," she said, according to a readout of the briefing. "Kevin’s primary responsibility would be to help safeguard American borders, keeping both terrorists and their weapons out of our nation, all while facilitating lawful international trade."
Withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership was bad enough, but what could come this year could be far worse, trade scholars said during a Brookings Institution panel reviewing "Trump's Trade Policy in Asia" on Feb. 28. Because President Donald Trump exited the TPP on the third day of his administration, the United States will not be able to lower barriers to beef or pork exports to Japan, and other countries that stayed in the agreement, such as Canada, will move into the gap, said Jeff Schott, a senior fellow on international trade policy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
President Donald Trump plans to nominate Amy Karpel to serve on the International Trade Commission, the White House said in a notice. Karpel most recently worked as chief counsel for Negotiations, Legislation and Administrative Law at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the White House said.
President Donald Trump told 15 congressional Republicans and four Democrats visiting the White House Feb. 13 that he's considering quotas or tariffs to protect domestic steel and aluminum. Producers have been decimated by dumping from China and other countries, he said. He said he'd discussed "in great detail" on the campaign trail how U.S. steel and aluminum industries have been taken advantage of by other countries.
Ripping up NAFTA was one of President Donald Trump's biggest applause lines at his campaign rallies, and it's hard to see him walking away from that, given its importance "for the people he feeds off," said Grant Aldonas, a Commerce Department undersecretary for international trade during the George W. Bush administration, speaking Feb. 13 at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones conference. He encouraged attendees to lobby Congress to modernize and preserve NAFTA, but he noted that their arguments have to take into account the power of populism and the uncertain political environment as midterm elections approach. "You can see that [uncertainty] in retirements, especially on the Republican side," he said. "People are dealing with politics they don't recognize."
The Trump administration's budget request for fiscal year 2019 keeps funding for the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration largely flat. Still, that funding "would allow ITA to conduct robust investigations into alleged trade violations, aggressively advocate for U.S. businesses facing tariff and non-tariff barriers abroad, and increase the capacity to closely review proposed foreign investments in U.S. businesses." The request, released Feb. 12, said "the President insisted on a simple, but forgotten principle -- America First," and said that trade enforcement is a high-priority, mission-critical program.
President Donald Trump said during a Feb. 12 infrastructure event that a "reciprocal tax" may be coming because our allies are not allies on trade. "We cannot continue to be taken advantage of by other countries. We cannot continue to let people come into our country and rob us blind and charge us tremendous tariffs and taxes, and we charge them nothing. We cannot allow that to happen," he said, repeating for emphasis: "We cannot allow it to happen."
President Donald Trump made a brief reference to international trade during his first State of the Union address on Jan. 30, without mentioning specific agreements or policies. The U.S. "finally turned the page on decades of unfair trade deals that sacrificed our prosperity and shipped away our companies, our jobs, and our wealth," he said. "Our nation has lost its wealth, but we’re getting it back so fast. The era of economic surrender is totally over. From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair and, very importantly, reciprocal."
New Section 201 safeguard duties on residential washers and on solar cells and modules take effect for entries on or after 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 7, said two presidential proclamations signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 23. Beginning on Feb. 7, imports of residential washers and solar cells that fall under the scope of the safeguard duties will be subject to tariff-rate quotas that will remain in effect, unless modified, for a period of three or four years, respectively (see 1801230052). Residential washers and solar cells and modules admitted into foreign-trade zones on or after that date must be admitted as “privileged foreign status,” and will be subject to the TRQs upon entry for consumption, the proclamations said. International Trade Today will have more details on the scope of the safeguard duties once the proclamations are published, along with their annexes, in the Federal Register.
President Donald Trump signed legislation on Jan. 22 to end the government shutdown, the White House said in a statement. The continuing resolution he signed will fund the government through Feb. 8, it said.