Section 232 tariffs are necessary to combat China's trade practices, the Coalition for a Prosperous America said in a July 23 report.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., joined by two moderate Republicans, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and other Democrats, introduced a bill this week that would exempt small businesses from paying tariffs levied on Canada under the fentanyl emergency. Small businesses are defined by the Small Business Administration, based on either average employment or recent annual revenues, and some manufacturers can have as many as 1,500 employees. Small retailers, depending on the sector, may qualify with annual revenues at or below $9 million to $47 million.
President Donald Trump, speaking at an event on artificial intelligence July 23, told the audience that for countries that are smaller trading partners, there will be a tariff imposed on their goods between 15% and 50%.
The U.S. government's "newfound" theory of jurisdiction in two importers' case against the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act is "both convoluted and wrong," the importers, Learning Resources and Hand2Mind, argued in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, D.C. Cir. # 25-5202).
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., a lead sponsor of the Prevent Tariff Abuse Act, has convinced 71 other Democrats to join her in clarifying that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act doesn't give a president the ability to impose quotas, tariff rate quotas or tariffs on imports.
Although a majority of the Senate voted to end the underlying emergency that allowed the president to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian goods, a vote was blocked in the House.
Two of the lead negotiators in the Cabinet -- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent -- avoided directly answering an interviewer's question about whether 15% is the lowest reciprocal tariff rate trading partners like Taiwan, the EU and South Korea can receive.
The White House says that imports from Japan will be subject to a baseline 15% tariff rate, in a fact sheet published July 23, the day after the president heralded the deal on Truth Social.
President Donald Trump reached a deal with Japan, which reduces 25% tariffs on cars to 15% -- including the 2.5% MFN rate -- with no quota on imports, according to a poster shared by a White House official on X, and a clarification about the details of the car arrangement from Japan's prime minister.
Orange juice importers Johanna Foods and Johanna Beverage Company on July 22 asked the Court of International Trade to either temporarily, preliminarily or permanently enjoin the federal government from "imposing and enforcing" President Donald Trump's threatened 50% tariff on Brazil. Filing a combined application for a temporary restraining order and motions for a preliminary or permanent injunction, Johanna Foods and Johanna Beverage said the tariff isn't a proper exercise of either Section 301 or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (Johanna Foods v. Executive Office of the President of the United States of America, CIT # 25-00155).