The Bureau of Industry and Security will post all valid requests for new tariff subheadings to be added to the lists of derivatives subject to Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs after the conclusion of the two-week window to submit requests that began May 1, BIS said in an interim final rule published May 2 (see 2504300031). Once they are posted, BIS will accept comments for 14 days.
In more than two hours of House appropriators' questions for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, trade was barely touched on.
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, ahead of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, denied that his tariff actions against Canada and Mexico have killed USMCA, but also cast doubt on its future. He said USMCA "was a transitional deal" to move away from NAFTA, and said "we'll see what happens" with the renegotiation. He said it could be adjusted, or terminated.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a talk moderated by Mike Milken, a former trader pardoned by President Donald Trump for long-ago securities fraud, said that trade, tax cuts and deregulation are "interlocking parts of an engine designed to drive long-term investment in the American economy."
Both the Japanese government and Japanese reporters' coverage of Japan's more than two-hour talk with the U.S. trade representative, commerce secretary and treasury secretary describe politicians who are not in a hurry to settle to avoid 24% tariffs under the reciprocal tariff plan that is scheduled to take effect in early July.
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.