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.
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.