A bipartisan group in the House publicized a letter they sent last month to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, asking him to remove 10% tariffs on coffee, and to avoid hiking tariffs on coffee beans in future deals.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., joined by two moderate Republicans, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and other Democrats, introduced a bill this week that would exempt small businesses from paying tariffs levied on Canada under the fentanyl emergency. Small businesses are defined by the Small Business Administration, based on either average employment or recent annual revenues, and some manufacturers can have as many as 1,500 employees. Small retailers, depending on the sector, may qualify with annual revenues at or below $9 million to $47 million.

The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, who, like the chairman, represents a state where logging is an important part of the economy, said the U.S. and Canada should return to a quota system to resolve the softwood lumber irritant.

The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill to increase funding for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative by $6 million, more than 10%, and to increase funding for the Bureau of Industry and Security, which handles Section 232 action, by $20 million -- almost 10%.

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., is trying to force votes in the House to end the emergency that justifies reciprocal tariffs and on a bill that would hike tariffs to 500% on Russian products.

A bill has passed the House of Representatives that requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to run a pilot program to see if artificial intelligence can advance its mission. It tasks the CPSC to see if AI can monitor internet websites, for the sale of recalled consumer products, and identify products that the CPSC has found should be refused admission to the U.S.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., co-sponsors of the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, which authorizes 500% tariffs on buyers of Russian energy products, praised President Donald Trump for his promise of 100% tariffs on products from countries buying Russian goods, if Russia doesn't stop its war in Ukraine.

Witnesses at a July 15 House hearing called for tariff measures to reduce Chinese dominance of critical mineral supply chains, with former Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., saying that tariffs on China were necessary to "protect strategic industries by penalizing bad actors and keeping the U.S. prices competitive."

The Senate passed a bill that directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a methodology to identify the country of origin of imported red snapper and some tuna species. The goal is for CBP to be able to confiscate illegally caught red snapper and tuna at the time of import.

House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Democrats jointly criticized what they called "ongoing trade chaos," and what they called secretive negotiations between the U.S. and countries under threat.