Rep. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., said her home territory, along with Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, are facing shipping problems due to the end of de minimis, even though the Virgin Islands and those other territories aren't part of the Customs Zone.
Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who recently led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Ukraine, Poland and Germany, called on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Sept. 24 to schedule a House floor vote on the proposed Sanctioning Russia Act, which would impose additional sanctions on Russia and new tariffs on countries that buy its oil and gas.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a letter she sent Sept. 24 to Rolex CEO Jean-Frederic Dufour, asking him whether he used Rolex's luxury box at the U.S. Open Tennis Championship as a venue to lobby President Donald Trump and his staff about exempting luxury watches from 39% reciprocal tariffs on Swiss exports.
Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., reintroduced the India Shrimp Tariff Act, which would add a 10% duty to Indian shrimp in January, and increase it to 20% in 2027 and 40% in 2028.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., introduced a bill last week to direct the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to prioritize convincing Canada and Mexico to institute a foreign investment review board similar to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS.
Three Democrats and Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., introduced a bill to end tariffs on imported coffee, and return them to the duty-free status they had before the administration imposed 10% tariffs on Colombia, 50% tariffs on Brazil, and 20% tariffs on Vietnam.
The House of Representatives voted 217-212 to extend current levels of federal spending through Nov. 21, but the Senate was not able to find the 60 votes needed to approve the same approach.
Several House Republicans changed their votes so that a move to block votes on emergency tariffs could succeed after being promised a Republican tariff working group (see 2509170048).
A former FDA overseas inspector told a Senate committee that in India and China fraud is common, including with falsified purity tests, and at times, lies about where pharmaceutical drugs are made.
The House Transportation Committee approved a bill Sept. 17 by voice vote that would reauthorize the Federal Maritime Commission through FY 2029. The legislation would give the agency several new tools to protect ocean shipping, including by establishing a formal process to report complaints about shipping exchanges, which connect shippers with carriers to make agreements or contracts for transporting cargo (see 2506300066).