Days after President Donald Trump said 30% tariffs on upholstered furniture were starting Oct. 1, he wrote on social media, "In order to make North Carolina, which has completely lost its furniture business to China, and other Countries, GREAT again, I will be imposing substantial Tariffs on any Country that does not make its furniture in the United States. Details to follow!!! President DJT"
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP created Harmonized System Update 2536 on Sept. 25 (containing 86 Automated Broker Interface records and 19 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records) and Harmonized System Update 2537 on Sept. 26 (containing 36 ABI records and six HTS records). HSU 2536 includes the EU executive order tariff updates and the mushroom assessment increase. HSU 2537 includes a correction to the rates for mushroom fees.
Section 232 tariffs on timber, lumber and their derivatives will take effect Oct. 14, under a proclamation issued by President Donald Trump. Tariffs will be set at 10% for timber and lumber, 25% for upholstered furniture and 25% on wooden cabinets and vanities.
Olof Gill, a spokesman for the European Commission, told reporters in Brussels that the top trade negotiator for the EU, Maros Sefcovic, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were meeting Sept. 25 to talk about the EU's proposal to allow historical levels of steel exports under a tariff rate quota system. Such a system was in place during the Biden administration.
Wendy Cutler, a former career negotiator with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and chief negotiator for the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement, said that South Korea may not want to lower its 25% reciprocal tariff to 15% if the price is $350 billion for U.S. investments. Cutler was speaking on a podcast hosted by the Washington International Trade Association on Sept. 26.
The case against the lists 3 and 4A tariffs is unlikely to be heard by the Supreme Court or the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the recent decision from the Federal Circuit upholding the tariffs likely gives the Trump administration greater confidence in using tariff authorities other than the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, various attorneys told us.
The U.S. government will try to make it very difficult for tariffs enacted through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to be refunded should the Supreme Court vacate them, according to trade lawyer Michael Roll.
The scope of the products covered by 100% U.S. tariffs on "patented and branded medicines" is unclear, though both the EU and Japan will only be hit with 15% tariffs, a White House official told several news outlets.
After China fought the U.S. to a draw, by throttling exports of rare earth magnets so that the U.S. dropped tariff levels and some export controls, former government officials, researchers and a businessman talked about what might come next.