Amid swirling reports that China is considering exemptions from tariffs on some critical U.S. goods, an industry expert said that these moves should not be read as a broader shift in the trade war between the two countries.

The 12 states that recently launched a lawsuit against all tariff action taken by President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act will begin working on a preliminary injunction motion against the tariffs "in the near future," Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield told us. Rayfield was confident in the prospect of being able to show that Oregon and its many public institutions will suffer "irreparable harm" without the injunction and that a judge will be willing to question the validity of Trump's declaration that bilateral trade deficits amount to an "unusual and extraordinary" threat.

George Bogden, the executive director of CBP's Office of Trade Relations, is no longer employed at the agency, the administration said April 24.

CBP published more details of how it will collect duties or fees on imported packages worth less than $800 with Chinese goods in the public inspection pages of the Federal Register on April 24.

More and more companies are requesting bonds that are worth millions of dollars and even "up to the billions at this point" as importers seek to ensure they have enough bonding to cover anticipated higher duties, Patrice Lafayette of Roanoke Insurance Group said during an April 23 webinar on tariffs hosted by Flexport.

Comments from President Donald Trump and from a private talk by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on April 22 gave importers hope that the triple-digit tariffs on Chinese imports will drop soon. But Bessent, speaking to Bloomberg after a speech on April 23 at the Institute of International Finance, said there is no plan for the U.S. to drop its tariffs unilaterally, and that there is no timeline for engagement with China.

Twelve U.S. states led by Oregon filed a lawsuit April 23 against all of President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The states' complaint argues that Trump exceeded his authority as established in IEEPA, since the "annual U.S. goods trade deficits" are not an "unusual and extraordinary threat." The states also argue that neither the reciprocal tariffs, nor the tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico imposed to address drug trafficking, establish a sufficient nexus to the claimed emergencies (The State of Oregon v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 25-00077).

A Section 232 investigation on the national security threat posed by the import of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and their parts will collect comments for three weeks, through May 16.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

President Donald Trump thinks that by applying a 25% tariff to auto part imports, domestic parts companies will thrive. But 77% of the nearly 1,000 auto supplier companies that belong to MEMA are pessimistic about the next year for their businesses -- and 55% said that government trade policy is the No. 1 threat to financial health.