Nearly 750 organizations and businesses gave input to the administration on trade barriers or subsidies that prevent them from reaching their sales potential.
Associations' views diverged widely on the wisdom of codifying a modified Type 86 process and tweaking the clear-from-the-manifest process for de minimis entries. Groups also disagreed on CBP's proposals for what new data should be submitted. The agency received 95 comments on its proposal, though dozens were from individuals and didn't make substantive suggestions. Some associations and companies addressed both this proposed rule and the one that would carve out sections 301 and 232 goods from de minimis. The comment period for that rule closes March 24.
When the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asked for comments on policies that reduce U.S. exports, most agricultural trade associations -- and a few companies -- laid out their concerns about tariffs or sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) barriers that prevent their exports from reaching their potential.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered some clarity on the promised April 2 tariffs but, when pressed, didn't elaborate on vital details. He said that reciprocal tariffs would take the form of a number that the Trump administration "believe[s] represents their tariffs," but said he wasn't sure if tariffs would layer on top of Section 232 tariffs.
Among more than 700 submissions to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative -- as the administration seeks to quantify the cost to American exporters and producers of trade barriers and unfair subsidies -- were just over a dozen from trade groups representing foreign companies, American chambers of commerce specific to foreign markets, and foreign governments.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. will "shortly" respond to EU retaliatory tariffs on U.S. whiskey with a 200% tariff on EU alcoholic beverages, including wine and champagne, if the EU whiskey tariff -- set to take effect April 1 -- isn't removed.
The EU and Canada announced retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. this week, targeting billions of dollars' worth of American exports in response to what they said were unjustified global 25% steel and aluminum duties imposed by the Trump administration. Other nations also criticized the U.S. tariffs as they mulled countermeasures of their own.
During a visit by Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin, President Donald Trump brushed away Martin's comments about Irish companies buying Boeing planes and hiring in the U.S. "There's a massive deficit. I don't mean by a little bit," he said, referring to the trade in goods between Ireland and the U.S. "We want to sort of even that out as nicely as we can. We don't want to do anything to hurt Ireland, but we want fairness," he said.
Two Section 232 investigations launched March 10 by the Commerce Department -- one on copper, the other on lumber -- serve as harbingers of potentially more trade activity to come, attorneys with the law firm Pillsbury said during a webinar on "DC Disrupted: Upcoming Tariffs & Trade Actions," said after notices seeking comments on the investigations had been posted.
Elevated import volumes at major U.S. ports could persist through this spring "amid continuing tariff turmoil" before volumes face potential year-over-year drops over the summer, according to the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.