House Democrats from Texas are asking Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to reverse his decision to end the tomato suspension agreement with Mexico.
Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Greg Steube, R-Fla., introduced a bill Aug. 15 that would codify the Trump administration’s 10% tariff baseline on all imported goods (see 2504020068) and create a separate category of tariffs for China.
The Republican-led House Select Committee on China said Aug. 14 that a new trade agreement the Trump administration is negotiating with China should contain or exclude certain provisions to protect U.S. economic and national security.
Bills recently introduced in the House and Senate would expand information sharing for merchandise that CBP has a “reasonable suspicion” is counterfeit. The bill would allow CBP to share “packing and shipping information” with intellectual property rights holders, according to an Aug. 8 news release from Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who reintroduced the Senate version.
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said Aug. 11 that he’s disappointed General Motors will reportedly import electric vehicle batteries from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), which the Defense Department placed on its Section 1260H list of Chinese military companies in January (see 2501060024).
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., and Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, reintroduced a bill that would add a position at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for identifying and reporting annually on foreign price-setting for pharmaceuticals, and to recommend trade remedies. The USTRx Act would call his position the chief pharmaceutical trade negotiator.
On the first day of higher tariffs for dozens of countries, prominent Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee attacked the policy, while the Republican chairman put a positive spin on soft employment numbers. The Senate minority leader used his daily floor speech to tie the tariffs to broader economic woes, while Republican leadership focused on Democrats' obstructions to prompt confirmation votes for presidential nominees.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden of Oregon and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., made a joint announcement July 31 that they will request a vote to end the new International Emergency Economic Powers Act declaration for Brazil, that underpins an additional 40% tariff on a portion of Brazil's exports.
Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., expressed frustration this week with the potential impact on the U.S. spirits industry from the Trump administration's tariffs, saying they will continue fighting to repeal duties introduced through both the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Section 232.
On the eve of more tariff hikes, four prominent Senate Democrats decried what they said were so-called deals -- or, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer put it, "a raw deal for the American people."