The trade community is closely watching whether plans by the Department of Government Efficiency to drastically cut the federal workforce will have any impact on trade operations, judging by recent social media posts.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, blocked his effort to pass a bill through the Senate unanimously that would require Congress to approve tariffs imposed on free-trade partners like Mexico and Canada, or on NATO and major non-NATO allies.

WilmerHale International Trade Practice leader David Ross told panelists on a discussion of reciprocal trade that, "contrary to some earlier expectations, there are indications that the president is not planning to do a line-by-line" tariff adjustment to match tariff levels of trading partners, but, rather, to seek to quantify the costs of higher tariffs and other policies he sees as trade barriers, and to put a single tariff rate on the country's products.

President Donald Trump, perhaps seeking to clarify remarks he made in the Oval Office the previous day (2502260032), posted in the morning Feb. 27 that the fentanyl-related tariffs "scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled."

Lobbyists from Foley & Lardner told a webinar audience that they expect tariffs under the push for reciprocal trade to be implemented "as early as June or July."

Jeffrey Gerrish, former deputy U.S. trade representative for Asia, Europe and the Middle East, told the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee that the time has come to undo the "colossal mistake" of granting permanent normal trading status.

President Donald Trump exaggerated the death toll of fentanyl overdoses while discussing tariffs at a White House Cabinet meeting Feb. 26, and said, "I'm going to be very hard to satisfy" on whether Mexico and Canada have done enough to stop fentanyl smuggling at their respective borders.

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 directed the Commerce Department to launch a Section 232 investigation on copper and copper products, which will cover the effect of imports of copper, copper concentrates, refined copper, copper alloys, scrap copper and copper derivative products on national security -- specifically, how they affect domestic copper mining, smelting and refining. The investigation is not limited to those categories; as the order says, it should look at "imports of copper in all forms."

The U.S. government is considering charging fees ranging from $500,000 to $1.5 million each time a ship docks at a U.S. port, with higher fees charged when Chinese vessels enter; South Korean or Japanese-built ships wouldn't avoid the fees, however, as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seems to have taken earlier criticisms into account that global shipping companies would own just as many Chinese ships but use them at other destinations.