Donald Trump, in a lengthy interview with Bloomberg's editor-in-chief, tripled down on his tariff policy, calling the word tariff "the most beautiful word in the dictionary," and saying that his plan of a 10% tariff on all non-Chinese imports is not nearly enough to reverse factory closures.
President Donald Trump will be receptive to Sen. Bill Cassidy's proposal to impose a carbon border tax, predicted Dave Banks, a former energy and environment expert in the National Economic Council and National Security Council during the first Trump term.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened a portal to be used for submitting exclusion requests for industrial machinery outside the solar sector.
The White House is considering whether to prompt the treasury secretary to prohibit imports of certain products from China that are derived from pangolins, an endangered species popularly known as scaly anteaters.
Less than a month from the election, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves invited U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to speak at his company's Coatesville, Pennsylvania, mill about how recent policy has supported steelworkers.
Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Bárcena said that she has been told that the U.S. will not comply with the panel ruling that said that rollup was understood to be part of the automotive rule of origin (see 2403070067), and she said that is undermining USMCA. She said that's because both the Republicans and the Democrats are fighting for the political support of the United Autoworkers and Teamsters. (The autoworkers' union characterizes rollup as watering down the requirement for North American content in vehicles).
Global steel excess capacity is reaching "crisis levels," which distorts trade and drives the price of steel down, displacing market-based production, said Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Small Business, Market Access, and Industrial Competitiveness Sushan Demirjian.
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House Ways and Means Committee members Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., led some fellow committee members and other House members in asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to brief them on the status of the dispute over Mexico's policy on genetically modified corn, and how that might affect the 2026 review of the USMCA.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that negotiators from its office and those from Kenya had a productive round of talks Sept. 16-30, with discussion of text covering "administrative matters; agriculture; customs, trade facilitation, and enforcement; environment; good regulatory practices; inclusivity; and workers’ rights and protections."