House Ways and Means Committee members met with Mexico's Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard about the upcoming sunset review of USMCA, and two Republicans on the committee said most of the conversation was about how useful the free trade agreement is.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said agricultural interests need to lobby the Trump administration about tariffs on imported fertilizers, given how high input costs have risen as prices for row crops have fallen.
The House Appropriations Committee released a summary of its plans for several agencies on Sept. 1, and said it intends to eliminate funding for the Bureau of International Labor Affairs. That bureau, commonly known as ILAB, prepares the annual report on products made with the worst forms of child labor and forced labor. It also has an app to help companies called "SourceRight."
Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., is asking the House Ways and Means chairman to direct the International Trade Commission to conduct a fact-finding investigation on the economic impacts of Peruvian blueberry exports on American blueberry growers.
Five House Democrats, including Rep. Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a resolution to terminate the emergency that allowed President Donald Trump to hike tariffs on some Brazilian goods from 10% plus most-favored nation tariffs to 50% plus MFN.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., are asking Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to ban seafood imported from China "and other rogue nations" due to their reliance on forced labor and unregulated fishing.
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.