The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of May 24 - June 6.
The European Union's ambassador to the U.S. said that as the world watches the European Union-U.S. summit in a week, they will be looking to see that “we are capable of resolving quickly and effectively our bilateral trade irritants.” He said they also want to see “that we can work and will work together to address the new challenges that sit on the nexus of technology and trade and security.” He said that export controls and cyber security measures are some of the ways to address those challenges, and there should be an announcement at the conference on those matters.
The administration issued a lengthy report after a 100-day review of supply chain vulnerabilities that recommends a lot of reshoring of manufacturing, in semiconductors, critical minerals and pharmaceutical ingredients, but also suggests a "trade strike force" to be deployed against unfair foreign trade practices that have hurt domestic companies that contribute to critical supply chains.
A Japanese and a Korean economist said that trade tensions between their two countries are no longer really disrupting Korea's semiconductor industry, though they are still increasing costs for some of the Japanese exporters.
According to the White House budget, importers are expected to pay $85 billion in tariffs in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. But the administration projects that duties collections will fall to $57 billion in fiscal year 2022, and to $45 billion in FY23. Alvaro Ferreira, a consultant to Sandler Travis law firm and an economist by training, said he doesn't know what assumptions the Office of Management and Budget used to make its projections, but he thinks "maybe the administration is thinking: Let’s not take the [Section] 301 tariffs for granted, [in case] there’s an adverse court ruling by the Court of International Trade."
Every country in the current round of retaliatory tariffs over digital services taxes will have fewer products targeted if negotiations fail to reach a solution, according to detailed lists released for the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Turkey, India and Austria. In all cases, as with an earlier list for France, no duties will be collected as negotiations continue. The announcement, made June 2, allows for up to 180 days before a decision has to be made on whether to hike tariffs on these goods by 25%. "Today’s actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs under Section 301 if warranted in the future," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a press release.
A recent Economic Policy Institute report that showed the domestic aluminum industry as thriving while the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum were in place demonstrates the continued need for the tariffs, United Steelworkers International said in a news release. "The Section 232 measures are allowing the domestic aluminum industry to regrow and add jobs," union President Tom Conway said in a statement. "This includes new investment not only in aluminum production, but downstream as well. We cannot jeopardize our fragile economic recovery by lifting them prematurely. As we continue to work toward a permanent multilateral solution for global overcapacity, we must maintain and strengthen these measures so that we can rebuild our communities and safeguard our national security. Unless and until we have a comprehensive set of solutions, the 232 national security measures should remain in place."
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told senators that the preliminary finding that antidumping and countervailing duties ought to roughly double on imported Canadian software lumber "couldn’t have come at a worse time," since she has been hearing from stakeholders consistently that the surge in the price of lumber is hurting builders and consumers. Raimondo, who was testifying at a May 26 hearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that covers her agency, was first asked about the issue by ranking member Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from May 17-21 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0 (see 2104160037) could provide the new tools the administration needs to defend the U.S. from trade distortions caused by Chinese firms, Ohio's two senators wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.