A half-dozen House members reintroduced a bill this week. to grant Kazakhstan permanent normal trade relations status. The former Soviet republic does receive most favored nation treatment, but must certify its compliance under the Jackson-Vanik amendment each year.
A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the House that would require that the minimum tariff charged on Chinese goods be 35%, that tariffs higher than 35% in Column 2 of HTS be applied to some Chinese imports, 100% tariffs on hundreds of items on the Section 301 target list, and that the bound rates for U.S. tariffs, as declared at the World Trade Organization, should be changed to Column 2 for all countries.
The Trump administration could be laying the groundwork to take broad and sweeping action on trade policy around April 1 when an internal review on U.S. trade policy is due, according to trade lawyers from Barnes Richardson.
On his first day in office, the president directed the heads of agencies that deal with trade, tariff collection and trade remedies to:
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.
Trump transition team members may have already drafted an executive order hiking tariffs on Chinese imports, said Peterson Institute for International Economics fellow Mary Lovely, during a webinar moderated by former European commissioner and now PIIE fellow Cecilia Malmstrom.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, in its annual report to Congress, said that ending de minimis for all e-commerce is one of its top 10 recommendations, and said that if Congress passes such a law, it should provide CBP adequate resources to implement and enforce the change.
House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., proposes increasing tariffs on nearly all Chinese goods to at least 35% and raising tariffs on "strategic goods" to 100%, with exceptions only for goods that are currently sourced only from China.
In less than three months, President Donald Trump will be back in the White House, after a campaign during which he floated 10% or 20% tariffs on all countries except China, which would be hit with an additional 60 percentage points on top of current tariffs.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., issued a release Oct. 25 asking his colleagues to change the law so that Kazakhstan can receive permanent normal trade relations, as Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and other former Soviet states do. Kazakhstan goods are subject to Column 1 tariffs, but that status must be renewed annually.