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 additional 50% tariffs that President Donald Trump threatened on China if Beijing doesn't rescind its retaliatory tariffs (see 2504070016) will take effect at 12:01 a.m. April 9, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during an April 8 press conference. "They will be going into effect at 12:01 a.m. tonight, so effectively tomorrow," she said when asked if the executive order to impose them had already been signed. No executive order had been issued as of press time.
President Donald Trump shared on social media April 8 that he'd just talked to South Korea's acting president on the phone, and they had discussed not just trade and possible purchases that would lower Korea's trade surplus, but also payment for U.S. military bases in their country.
After a resolution to roll back the tariffs on Canada passed the Senate, Senate Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are pushing for a similar vote to end reciprocal tariffs and a global 10% tariff, as are 26 Democrats in the House.
Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee mostly stood by President Donald Trump's dramatic tariff moves, though many emphasized that the result should be lower non-tariff barriers for U.S. agricultural exports, not a permanent tariff wall around the U.S. economy.
An exemption from reciprocal tariffs for goods in transit on the tariffs’ effective dates of April 5 and April 9 will only apply to goods entered before May 27, CBP said in a CSMS message providing additional guidance on the tariffs.
CHANDLER, Ariz. -- A litany of new tariffs is creating a number of issues that brokers need to be aware of as they interact with their importer clients, including bond insufficiency and a potential increase in CBP requests for information, according to speakers on an April 8 panel at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s annual conference.
The reciprocal tariff on China will be set at 84% when it takes effect at 12:01 a.m. tonight, said CBP in an emailed CSMS message. That reflects an additional 50% tariff announced by President Donald Trump in response to Chinese retaliatory tariffs, on top of the 34% initially set for China.
Supply chain solutions provider OIA Global acquired JF Moran, a U.S.-based customs brokerage firm. In a press release about the acquisition, OIA Global said that it will expand its "trade compliance expertise" and strengthen its footprint in North America.
Singapore-headquartered Maxeon Solar Technologies is considering a challenge to CBP's decision to hold its solar panels for alleged non-compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, it said in an April 4 news release. The company said that it is "considering exercising its right to contest CBP's decision at the U.S. Court of International Trade to demonstrate that Maxeon's legacy supply chains are fully UFLPA-compliant."