Ending most favored nation status for Chinese imports -- as advocated for by the House Select Committee on China and some other China hawks in Congress -- would increase consumer prices for laptops and smart phones by more than $100, and cause purchases of those goods to fall sharply, according to a recent study commissioned by the Consumer Technology Association.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 18 updated guidance related to an expanded ban on imports of Russian seafood announced in December (see 2312220007). The update to OFAC’s frequently asked question adds several new tariff subheadings to the lists of tariff provisions for pollock and other seafood to which the ban may apply.
Both Asian countries and American businesses had hoped that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework could be a step on the road to lowering tariffs, trade experts said during a webinar on the future of IPEF, but now they're wondering if there will be any economically significant effect at all from talks about trade facilitation, green transition and supply chain resilience.
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U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark criticized the Biden administration for not only choosing to avoid tariff liberalizing trade negotiations, but also for walking away from long-time positions on digital trade provisions. Clark, who was speaking at a press conference after the Chamber's annual State of American Business event, declined to say whether a second Donald Trump administration or another term of Joe Biden would be worse on trade.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who warned the White House that reducing the scope of the Section 301 tariff list or reducing tariff levels "could undermine efforts to shore up our domestic manufacturing and supply chains," said he doesn't know the details of what products might leave the target list if the White House hikes tariffs on electric vehicles or their batteries.
U.S. solar cell maker Auxin Solar and solar module designer Concept Clean Energy launched a lawsuit at the Court of International Trade on Dec. 29 to contest the Commerce Department's pause of antidumping and countervailing duties on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules from Southeast Asian found to be circumventing the AD/CVD orders on these products from China (Auxin Solar v. U.S., CIT # 23-00274).