President Donald Trump sent the nomination of Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to serve as CBP commissioner to the Senate, the White House said in a May 22 news release (here). McAleenan became acting deputy commissioner in 2013 and ascended to commissioner on an acting basis after Gil Kerlikowske stepped down with the change of administration in January (see 1611090035). Several industry groups as well as former Department of Homeland Security top officials praised the White House's March announcement that Trump intended to nominate McAleenan for the permanent leadership position (see 1703310040, 1704280031, 1704250016, 1704170014, and 1704100034).
The Trump administration released its proposed fiscal year 2018 budget (here). The request includes increased funding for CBP (here), with a portion of that going toward financing border infrastructure, including a “physical wall along the southern border.” The dedicated funding line for ACE would be drawn down to $3 million, from $22 million infiscal year 2017 and $133 million in fiscal year 2016. Automation modernization would instead be funded in a basket category for procurement. The budget proposal would also extend user fee programs authorized by 19 USC 58c, including the Merchandise Processing Fee, through the end of 2027. The fees are currently set to expire on Sept. 30, 2025.
President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on May 20 signed a Joint Strategic Vision Declaration (here) and a series of agreements that define the bilateral trade framework, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said May 20 at a press conference (here). “This is unprecedented,” al-Jubeir said. “We have not had an agreement, I believe, signed by a king of Saudi Arabia and a president to codify the strategic relationship and where we want to take it moving forward, so this was a great accomplishment.” The U.S. and Saudi Arabia are charting a new path toward a peaceful Middle East where economic development and trade are among the “hallmarks of the regional and global engagement,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during the press conference. Al-Jubeir also said the two nations want to “intensify” cooperation in consultations on technology transfer.
President Donald Trump intends to nominate Richard Ashooh to serve as assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, the White House announced May 19 (here). Ashooh is director of economic partnerships for the University System of New Hampshire. Ashooh also worked at Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems, the White House said.
Unfair trade practices will be among the topics that President Donald Trump discusses at the upcoming G7 summit in Taormina, Italy, which will go on May 26-27, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during a May 12 press conference (here). “He will promote American economic leadership and also address unfair trade practices,” Spicer said.
Changes in the structure of manufacturing make it difficult to tie products to a single country of origin and design government policies that support U.S. manufacturing, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report (here). The report, which also outlines various agencies' interpretations of "Made in the U.S.A.," mentions President Donald Trump’s April 18 executive order instructing agencies to ensure federal grants and procurement maximize the use of manufactured goods produced in the U.S. (see 1704180021). Physical transformation of goods is increasingly performed by workers not classified as manufacturing workers, and a growing proportion of workers whose jobs are related to manufacturing work in sectors not directly involved in physical transformation, such as business services, software development and after-sales service, the report says.
President Donald Trump on May 5 signed fiscal year 2017 omnibus legislation that will fund the federal government through Sept. 30 and avoid a shutdown, the White House said. The Senate and House this week both passed the compromise bill, which will also require CBP to brief Congress on ACE development efforts within 90 days of enactment (see 1705010037).
The Trump administration seems likely to ramp up trade enforcement efforts on China when it has more staff about a year from now, American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Derek Scissors said during a May 3 event hosted by Kelley Drye on the first 100 days of the administration. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping essentially punted on substantively addressing bilateral trade issues during their early April meeting the U.S.’s and China’s “100-day plan” (see 1704100008) reached during that meeting is more spectacle than substance, he said. But said the U.S. could increasingly press China on issues including intellectual property rights protection as the Trump administration will be facing more political pressure to act in 2018.
President Donald Trump issued executive orders to address violations and abuses of U.S. free trade agreements (here) and to create the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (here) on April 29. The FTA executive order tasks Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the U.S. trade representative with submitting performance reviews of all trade agreements to which the U.S. is a party. The order also directs examinations of all trade relations with World Trade Organization members with which the U.S. doesn’t have FTAs but has significant trade deficits in goods. Every performance review will cover “violations or abuses” of any U.S. FTA, investment agreement, “WTO rule governing any trade relation under the WTO,” or trade preference program hurting U.S. workers. The order also instructs the reviews to document any “unfair treatment by trade and investment partners” having similar effects.
President Donald Trump signed a memo on April 27 that outlines the Commerce Department’s Section 232 investigation into aluminum imports (here), which started the day before (see 1704270024). The memo orders the investigation to take into account how the quantities, availability, character and use of those imports affect the U.S.’s ability to meet national security requirements, noting the close relationship between the nation’s economic welfare and national security. Should the investigation find that aluminum imports are threatening or impairing national security, the report must recommend actions and steps to adjust imports so they won’t have that impact, the memo said.