Four Democratic senators brought small business owners to Congress for a press conference May 5 to condemn harm from President Donald Trump's tariffs and to announce legislation to create a tariff exemption for small businesses.
President Donald Trump, in a social media post, complained that other countries are offering "all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States," and that Hollywood and other U.S. regions "are being devastated." He said this is national security threat. "It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!"
There "very well could be" a trade deal announced this week, President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled back from Florida to Washington on May 4, but he said these won't be tariff negotiations that lead to a signing ceremony, in most cases.
As the second Trump administration's tariffs begin to bite, small businesses are more vulnerable to price increases and supply shocks than are large companies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned the Trump administration at an event celebrating its Small Business Day on May 1.
The U.K. has finished gathering public input from industry about the Trump administration’s recent tariff measures (see 2504030057) and is working to “rapidly” analyze the responses “while keeping all options on the table,” the country’s Department for Business and Trade said May 2. It also said possible trade negotiations with the U.S. to remove the tariffs “continue at pace and remain our focus.” The U.K. earlier this year published a list of over 8,000 goods imported from the U.S. that possibly could be hit with retaliatory tariffs.
China is "evaluating" whether to begin trade talks with the U.S. after the Trump administration recently sent messages to Beijing in a bid to start negotiations about recent tariffs imposed by the two nations, China's Ministry of Commerce said May 2, according to an unofficial translation of a portion of a press conference. Senior U.S. officials "have repeatedly expressed their willingness to negotiate with China on tariffs," a ministry spokesperson said. "China is currently evaluating this."
New economic research shows that universal tariffs will not be an effective revenue source for the U.S. government, economists with the Peterson Institute for International Economics said during an event April 30.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz told commerce deputy secretary nominee Paul Dabbar that, as "an experienced dealmaker," he hopes Dabbar will help to secure "freer and fairer trade with our allies, not across-the-board protectionism" -- and to also argue for that approach.
The Court of International Trade on May 2 held that importer BASF's fish oil ethyl ester concentrates "maintain the essence of fish" and are thus "extracts of fish" under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 1603 and not "food preparations" under heading 2106.
As CBP has made it clear that it will ramp up efforts to ensure companies and importers are complying with import regulations and all the assorted tariff modifications, the roles of customs brokers and import compliance experts have been elevated within company structures, several trade experts said this week in webinars.