Correction: A story in the Feb. 10 International Trade Today incorrectly stated that goods on the water would have an earlier March date for Section 232 tariffs to apply (see 2502100011). A White House spokesman incorrectly described the timing of the action. The effective date is actually March 12.
The opening salvos of President Donald Trump's aggressive trade actions in the first weeks of his administration may be a harbinger of what is to come in the next four years as trade experts predict an upending of the global trade system.
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.
Jamieson Greer, Trump's pick to be U.S. trade representative, told Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that he will make sure that the appropriateness of the 2.5% tariff on cars is reviewed as part of the sunset review for USMCA. Sanders, the most famous leftist in the Senate, had pointed out in his written questions that 2.5% is not high enough to convince all Mexican exporters to follow USMCA rules of origin.
C.J. Mahoney, who led the U.S. team in renegotiating NAFTA during the first Trump administration, described USMCA as "a modest success so far," that has increased U.S. production of auto engines and transmissions, and increased factory construction in both the U.S. and Mexico.
The Commerce Department will have until May 10 to establish a process for including additional derivative steel and aluminum items to be subject to 25% tariffs -- but importers are still waiting to learn what products have already been added to the list.
An increase in Section 232 tariffs on aluminum to 25% will also take March 12, the same date as changes to steel tariffs, as will a return on tariffs on aluminum from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Mexico, the EU and the U.K. after those countries’ exemptions and quota agreements are ended on that date.
Tariffs are set to take effect March 12 for steel and steel derivatives from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the U.K., Ukraine and the EU, said the presidential proclamation released late Feb. 10 that increases Section 232 duties on steel, in part by ending Section 232 exemptions and quota agreements for those countries.
Double Ace Cargo, a Florida-based non-vessel-operating common carrier (NVOCC), has paid $165,000 in civil penalties and is paying for an independent monitoring of its business practices under two compromise agreements it reached with the Federal Maritime Commission over the past nearly two years, the FMC announced Feb. 7.
A California customs broker pleaded guilty Feb. 7 to defrauding importers out of more than $5 million and committing over $1 million in tax evasion, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced. The broker, Frank Seung Noah, copped to two counts of wire fraud, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison each, and one count of tax evasion, for which he faces five years in prison.