North America trade expert Dan Ujczo, from Thompson Hine, was expecting 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico to begin Jan. 20.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala asked members of the international trade community at the World Economic Forum to stop "hyperventilating" about proposed tariffs from the Trump administration while warning that tariffs won't bring about the desired effects.
The Trump administration could be laying the groundwork to take broad and sweeping action on trade policy around April 1 when an internal review on U.S. trade policy is due, according to trade lawyers from Barnes Richardson.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, who voted against USMCA because he felt it moved too much in the direction of managed trade, told an audience at a Council on Foreign Relations event Jan. 23 that, despite all of his talk of tariffs, "a lot of folks will be surprised at the extent to which President [Donald] Trump will pursue broad, aggressive tariffs."
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a think tank aligned with Trump's trade policy, issued a new report on agricultural trade, arguing that policies that aimed to lower U.S. tariffs in exchange for better market access for U.S. agricultural exports almost exclusively benefited soybeans, corn and wheat, while hurting fruit and vegetable farmers and livestock operations.
The chairman of the House Select Committee on China said Jan. 22 that the U.S. should take a harder line against China's aggressive policies on trade, investment and other matters.
President Donald Trump posted that if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't "make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries."
Three Senate Democrats have introduced a bill to remove the president's ability to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a companion bill to one introduced in the House, which also only had Democratic sponsors (see 2501160069).
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President Donald Trump railed against the trade stance of the European Union, as he often has, as he talked about tariffs and trade deficits with reporters as he signed executive orders on the first day of his second term.