Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who will lead the Senate Finance Committee next year, said the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program is "a high priority for me," and he tried to get the trade preference program attached to the spending bill this week.
A five-year renewal of the Haiti HELP/HOPE trade preferences is the only tariff liberalization legislation that was attached to the federal spending bill that will keep the federal government open through mid-March.
Venable lawyers said no one knows whether President-elect Donald Trump will hike tariffs on China by 10 percentage points, by 60 percentage points, or bring current tariff levels to 60%. Nor does anyone know if the threat of 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican exports will become reality.
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.
Congress has not yet finished the text of the government spending bill that needs to pass this week, but House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said in the early afternoon that several trade provisions he had hoped would hitch a ride weren't included. He said his understanding was that the African Growth and Opportunity Act wouldn't be attached, nor would the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program.
The National Marine Fisheries Service seeks to revise regulations to allow for the streamlining of electronic filing requirements pertaining to the import of fish or fish products, according to a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register.
A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit told the Court of International Trade that it has now twice wrongly told an importer that its first-sale price method to determine the duty level of its cookware was prohibited.
Congress will pass a spending bill before leaving next week, and while everyone wants to attach their legislation to it, the prospect for Haitian trade preferences to get a ride seems relatively strong.
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.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is hiking tariffs on Chinese solar wafers and polysilicon to 50% and Chinese tungsten products covered by Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 8101.94.00, 8101.99.10 and 8101.99.80 will face 25% tariffs, beginning Jan. 1.