President Joe Biden came out against the purchase of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, saying in a post on X: "I told our steel workers I have their backs, and I meant it. U.S. Steel has been an iconic American company for more than a century -- it’s vital that it remain domestically owned and operated."
The White House is requesting $239 million in funding to hire an additional 1,000 CBP officers “to stop illicit fentanyl and other contraband from entering the U.S.,” it said in a fact sheet released March 11 alongside President Joe Biden’s FY 2025 budget request. The funding had already been sought in October as part of an emergency supplemental request but had gone unmet by Congress, the fact sheet said. The budget request also seeks “$34 million" for CBP and ICE "to combat child exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking,” the fact sheet said.
The Biden administration on Feb. 21 announced a series of actions intended to strengthen cybersecurity at U.S. ports, including mandatory incident reporting requirements and minimum cybersecurity standards for ports and vessels.
Former President Donald Trump, in a television appearance with Maria Bartiromo, bragged about the "big tariffs" he put in to stop the import of Chinese steel, and denied a Washington Post report that he is thinking about imposing a flat 60% tariff on Chinese imports if reelected.
The numbers of seizures of fentanyl precursor drugs at U.S. airports is beginning to decline as China cracks down on its manufacturers, administration officials said during a call with reporters.
President Joe Biden, in his explanation for his veto of a bill that would have disapproved the Federal Highway Administration's waiver of Buy America requirements for EV chargers, said that the general waiver for manufactured products at the FHWA is weaker than this specific waiver.
Presidential proclamations for Section 232 steel tariff rate quotas for EU countries, and for tariff rate quotas for aluminum, were published Dec. 28, with no changes to aggregate volume from the last two-year deal. The new quotas will last through the end of 2025.
An administration Council on Supply Chain Resilience, which includes the head of every Cabinet-level agency except the Education Department, held its first meeting, with the goal of maintaining resilient supply chains.
China said it will curb exports of precursor chemicals that make fentanyl and other synthetic opiates, after a previous crackdown on fentanyl trafficking led to the chemicals being sent to Mexico, where cartels turn them into opiates.
Indonesia and the U.S. pledged together to take concrete steps to advance "occupational safety and health and fair wages and ensure employers uphold internationally recognized labor standards and comply with domestic labor law" in Indonesia's mines and processing facilities, as well as work to lower greenhouse gas emissions in their mineral supply chains, "including efforts to seek to promote clean and low-emission power for mineral processing."