The White House quietly released Annex III to President Donald Trump’s executive order on reciprocal tariffs yesterday, detailing Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings that will be used for the tariffs that take effect at 12:01 a.m. April 5 and April 9.
Trade groups mostly reacted in alarm to the dramatic change in tariffs with every country that is coming this month, whether because of expected retaliation against their exports or, in the case of sectors that are largely supplied by imports, the increase in costs.
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.
President Donald Trump, on his flight to Florida on April 3, told reporters on the plane that "we put ourselves in the driver's seat" with the global tariff announcements, and now, "every country is calling us."
Multiple countries this week objected to President Donald Trump’s April 2 announcement of new reciprocal tariffs against trading partners (see 2504020072), saying they either plan to retaliate or are assessing how to respond.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced a bill that would have future sections 232, 301 and 338 or International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs expire after 60 days unless Congress were to approve the tariffs imposed by the president.
President Donald Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to enact his sweeping "retaliatory" tariffs (see 2504020086) has drawn serious speculation about whether the statute can serve as a proper basis for invoking the tariffs. Trade lawyers told us that potential issues arising from the use of IEEPA include the existence of tariff-making authority to address trade deficits under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, the "major questions" doctrine and the way in which the tariffs were calculated.
A former Trump trade negotiator, Kelly Ann Shaw, described as "one of the key architects of the Administration’s trade, investment, energy and national security policies" in Trump's first term by her current law firm, said the reciprocal tariffs announced April 2, based on goods trade deficits, are not the same tariffs that will be in place weeks, months or years from now.
The White House released two annexes to its proclamation setting 10% reciprocal tariffs April 5, and higher country-specific tariffs for some on April 9, including a list of goods excluded from the tariffs, some because they're potentially subject to Section 232 actions.
A day after President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs upon dozens of trading partners, including countries that the U.S. has historically had friendly relations with, customs brokers and importers have numerous questions, such as whether ACE has the ability to verify values accurately and what role drawback might have as companies respond to the tariffs.