The decline of U.S. commercial shipbuilding -- and the fact that it's not cost-competitive with Japanese and South Korean shipbuilding -- must be rectified, the administration said, but the precise details of how that can be accomplished are yet to be determined.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the lead Republican on a bill that would prevent future executive tariffs from lasting more than 60 days without an approval in Congress, said on a phone call with reporters that it was a deliberate choice not to have the bill roll back Section 232 tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, Section 301 tariffs on China, or tariffs on nearly all countries under the guise of national emergencies.
The $1.5 million and $1 million docking fees proposed under the Section 301 shipbuilding case (see 2502240006) are "just those -- they're proposed actions," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., during an appearance in front of the Senate Finance Committee April 8.
President Donald Trump declared that if China doesn't withdraw its 34% retaliatory tariff hike, "above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Members of Congress didn't split wholly along party lines in praising or panning the dramatic increase in global tariffs coming in the next week.
Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urging him and President Donald Trump to exempt child care products from tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada. The tariffs will raise prices on "car seats, highchairs, strollers, and cribs" and "exacerbate the cost of caring for babies and toddlers," the lawmakers said.
The U.S. will impose additional 10% tariffs on most imports, but not on Mexican and Canadian goods, information goods like books, music or films, or any goods either subject to Section 232 tariffs or among goods that Trump is considering protecting under Section 232, including pharmaceuticals, copper, lumber, semiconductors, certain critical minerals, and energy and energy products.
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.
To date, no major lawsuits challenging any of the new tariff actions taken by President Donald Trump have been filed. The reasons for that include high legal hurdles to success and inconsistency in the implementation of the tariffs, trade lawyers told us.
Customs attorney Dan Ujczo, who has contacts in the White House as well as clients who are major automakers, said he thinks the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over migration and fentanyl will continue past April 2, and will be stacked with auto tariffs and the reciprocal levies.