U.S. small business importers need a tariff exclusion process to avoid "irreparable harm," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a letter to the secretaries of commerce and the treasury and the U.S. trade representative.
Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who served in that role in President Donald Trump's first term, told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that he thinks "there’s a reasonable chance the CIT would enjoin" tariffs levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. Trump used IEEPA to levy 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over fentanyl and migration, as well as 20% tariffs on China over fentanyl, and used it to levy 10% tariffs on countries other than those three, and an additional 125% tariffs on Chinese goods.
In its annual report on how foreign countries honor intellectual property protections, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative added Mexico to its Priority Watch List of the worst offenders, while Argentina, China, India, Indonesia, Chile, Russia and Venezuela remain on the list from last year.
Recent U.S. trade actions, such as the IEEPA tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives, and the temporarily paused reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries worldwide, could cause global container volumes to slump by 1% in 2025, according to U.K-based maritime shipping advisory firm Drewry.
Domestic and foreign automakers, auto dealers and MEMA, the suppliers' association, asked the treasury secretary, commerce secretary and U.S. trade representative to rescind the planned 25% tariff on auto parts, which is now planned for early May under a Section 232 national security action.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman that she had a meeting with USTR Jamieson Greer "yesterday that was a little bit comforting," but that the current 10% U.S. tariff on most countries, plus 25% tariffs on cars, steel and aluminum and some products from Canada and Mexico, and 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, if it lasts, will result in global merchandise trade falling by 0.2%. Before the actions, the WTO forecast a 2.7% growth in goods trade this year.
Comments from President Donald Trump and from a private talk by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on April 22 gave importers hope that the triple-digit tariffs on Chinese imports will drop soon. But Bessent, speaking to Bloomberg after a speech on April 23 at the Institute of International Finance, said there is no plan for the U.S. to drop its tariffs unilaterally, and that there is no timeline for engagement with China.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has released in the Federal Register its Section 301 determination on U.S. shipbuilding (see 2504180018), meaning that it has confirmed the timelines for when the U.S. government will collect fees on foreign-built vessels docking at U.S. ports. Fee collection will begin Oct. 14.
Experts predicted that a trade deal between the United States and China is unlikely in the short term and that any deal will depend on "some sort of down payment" by China before negotiations can begin.
A former staffer in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during President Donald Trump's first term and a Harvard professor agreed on very little in a debate hosted by The Federalist Society on Trump's tariffs and trade policy.