Two Section 232 investigations launched March 10 by the Commerce Department -- one on copper, the other on lumber -- serve as harbingers of potentially more trade activity to come, attorneys with the law firm Pillsbury said during a webinar on "DC Disrupted: Upcoming Tariffs & Trade Actions," said after notices seeking comments on the investigations had been posted.
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Section 232 tariffs on a new list of steel and aluminum “derivatives” outside of Chapters 73 and 76 are now set to take effect, after the Commerce Department released a notice that “adequate systems are in place to fully, efficiently, and expediently process and collect tariff revenue for covered articles for both steel and aluminum.”
Republicans voted in the House to say that there will be no more calendar days in the rest of this session of Congress, through the end of 2025, in a procedural gambit directly blocking the ability of critics of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada and Mexico to challenge that policy.
President Donald Trump threatened to double Section 232 tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%, starting March 12, after Ontario placed a 25% surcharge on electricity exported to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. However, Ontario Premier Rob Ford later dropped the surcharge, and Trump told White House reporters he "probably" would not follow through with the threat as a result.
President Donald Trump acknowledged that the Ontario premier rolled back a surcharge on electricity exports to the U.S. and told reporters at the White House that he "probably" wouldn't increase to 50% the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum set to take effect on March 12, as he had threatened about five hours earlier.
The U.S. will double tariffs slated to take effect March 12 on Canadian aluminum and steel, from 25% to 50%, in response to Ontario's decision to place 25% export surcharges on electricity purchased in the U.S., President Donald Trump said today on Truth Social.
The United States is interested in negotiating a new free trade agreement with India, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told an Indian audience on March 8.
Two pro-trade Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee reintroduced a bill that would restrict the president's ability to use Section 232 to impose tariffs without Congress' consent. Four other House Democrats are co-sponsoring the bill.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the tariffs that the president threatened over Canadian trade policies for dairy and lumber won't come this week, as the president had said two days earlier.