Overnight, the U.S. issued a statement that, by May 14, it will suspend 115 percentage points of its 145% International Economic Emergency Powers Act tariffs on China, and keep the lower rate of 30% "for an initial period of 90 days" while trade talks go on.
The Trump administration is leaving 20% tariffs levied in response to fentanyl smuggling in place, while reducing what had been 125% reciprocal tariffs to just 10%, the same as all reciprocal tariffs globally.
The reduction of the reciprocal tariff on China from 125% to 10% will take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on May 14, said President Donald Trump in an executive order. The decrease will not be retroactive.
The White House announced May 11 that it reached a deal with China in talks over the weekend, but provided no details about what that means.
The Swiss president told reporters in Bern that her country would put together a letter of intent within two weeks, in the hopes of reaching an "agreement in principle" with the U.S., like the U.K. did (see 2505080033), and thereby avoid 31% reciprocal tariffs set to begin July 9.
The European Commission on May 7 approved an over $5.6 billion French re-insurance scheme for export credit to the U.S. The scheme will run from May 8 to July 8 and will let wine and spirits exporters ship inventory to the U.S. prior to new tariffs on French goods taking effect when a 90-day pause on country-specific reciprocal rate expires.
Beijing has launched a "special operation" to crack down on illegal exports of critical minerals, such as gallium, germanium, antimony, tungsten and other rare earths, according to an unofficial translation of a May 9 Ministry of Commerce notice. The ministry said China's Office of the National Export Control Coordination Mechanism gathered agencies for a meeting to discuss how they can better stop export smuggling, specifically pointing to "overseas entities" that "have colluded with domestic illegal personnel" to evade Chinese export controls.
The U.K. Supreme Court ruled that a forced labor case against vacuum manufacturer Dyson can proceed in the U.K. in a win for the migrant workers who are suing the company over labor conditions in two Malaysian factories in its supply chains.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the May 9 Federal Register on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) injury, Section 337 patent or other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register May 8-9 on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CVD rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):