An exemption from reciprocal tariffs for goods subject to Section 232 tariffs only applies if duties are “owed and payable,” CBP said in an update May 8 to its Section 232 tariff FAQ.
The chaotic situation that importers and customs brokers have been facing as tariff policy swings wildly from one extreme to the next is partially due to the fact that CBP is unable to influence policy in the Trump administration, Pete Mento, director of customs and international trade at DSV, said on May 8. Decisions about tariffs are made without expert insight into how their actual implementation will affect the broader trade community, he said.
A U.S.-U.K. trade deal announced in the Oval Office leaves the average tariff on U.K. goods at 10%; however, aerospace engines and parts will enter duty-free.
President Donald Trump said at a press conference May 8 that Rolls-Royce engines and other British aerospace exports will enter duty-free, but the 10% tariffs on British goods will remain in place on all other goods under a tariff deal with the U.K.
Under aggressive questioning from Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that exempting tariffs on car seats, cribs, high chairs and other essential baby items "is under consideration."
Vice President JD Vance, at a Q&A with Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to the U.S., said it should be "very, very easy" to talk with officials at the EU about the bloc lowering its regulatory barriers to trade and its approach to U.S. tech giants.
CBP will increase the number of Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes that may be submitted per entry line from eight to 32, trade consultant Bonnie Kersch said in a LinkedIn post May 6. Attendees were told of the change during CBP’s Trade and Cargo Security Summit in New Orleans that day, with gasps and laughing audible among the audience, according to replies to the post.
President Donald Trump, responding to a reporter's quote from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the administration is considering tariff exemptions for car seats from China [see Ref:2505060052]), said he doesn't know if he wants to do that.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, after an evening announcement that he would travel to Switzerland to have trade talks with China on May 10 and 11, said that at current levels of tariffs, there's a trade embargo between the two countries.
Malaysia's Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry will be the only entity capable of issuing non-preferential certificates of origin for Malaysian shipments destined to the U.S., the agency said this week, adding that the change will help address traders that use its ports to illegally transship foreign goods to the U.S. and evade certain American import duties.