Crowell & Moring partner David Stepp, a trade expert in the Los Angeles office, said that he and other trade lawyers have been hearing rumors about how the Trump administration will define "transshipment" in its reciprocal trade agreements. He said the rumor is that details will be released "in coming days."
EU Trade Minister Maros Sefcovic said that the EU "will need to translate key elements of the joint statement into legislative proposals," and that politicians have a "firm intention" to "present these legislative proposals and launch this process still this month."
The president of the American Soybean Association told President Donald Trump that soybean farmers "cannot survive a prolonged trade dispute with our largest customer," urging him to have his trade team persuade China to drop its 20% tariff on American soybeans.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that details in writing on the South Korean and Japanese trade deals will come in "kind of weeks."
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Less than two weeks ago, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to impose an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods because that country is importing Russian oil, and Russia's actions in Ukraine are "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States." He said that if Russia were to "take significant steps to address the national emergency described in section 1 of this order and align sufficiently with the United States on national security, foreign policy, and economic matters, I may further modify this order."
Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Greg Steube, R-Fla., introduced a bill Aug. 15 that would codify the Trump administration’s 10% tariff baseline on all imported goods (see 2504020068) and create a separate category of tariffs for China.
Tariffs on steel, chips and semiconductors will come into effect by next week or the week after, President Donald Trump said on Aug. 15.
As importers await a decision from the higher courts on the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, importers should hedge themselves against any outcome, according to Jen Diaz, president of Diaz Trade Law, who was speaking on an Aug. 11 podcast hosted by the Global Training Center.
Some companies and associations in the solar industry endorsed additional tariffs on Chinese polysilicon, but others expressed concern that allied countries will be hit with overlapping Section 232 tariffs on both imports of polysilicon and solar cells, in public comments to the Bureau of Industry and Security.