The White House announced May 11 that it reached a deal with China in talks over the weekend, but provided no details about what that means.
The Swiss president told reporters in Bern that her country would put together a letter of intent within two weeks, in the hopes of reaching an "agreement in principle" with the U.S., like the U.K. did (see 2505080033), and thereby avoid 31% reciprocal tariffs set to begin July 8.
Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., introduced a bill to require notification of Congress and provide justification for tariffs enacted through presidential action.
The 10% tariff on the first 100,000 autos exported annually from the U.K. will be "all-in," according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. CBP couldn't clarify whether that would be done by removing most favored nation duties on U.K. autos and then applying a 10% tariff rate, or whether the additional tariff rate for in-quota autos would be 7.5%.
Ashlande Gelin, a former attorney at the Commerce Department's Office of the Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance, left the agency to join Sidley Austin as a managing associate, she announced May 8 on LinkedIn. Gelin joined Commerce in 2021 after serving as a law clerk and attorney in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
After President Donald Trump spoke May 8 about a trade deal with the U.K., he took questions from reporters, and one asked whether the U.S. will lower tariffs on China if talks involving Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and China's vice premier go well over the weekend.
The chaotic situation that importers and customs brokers have been facing as tariff policy swings wildly from one extreme to the next is partially due to the fact that CBP is unable to influence policy in the Trump administration, Pete Mento, director of customs and international trade at DSV, said on May 8. Decisions about tariffs are made without expert insight into how their actual implementation will affect the broader trade community, he said.
A U.S.-U.K. trade deal announced in the Oval Office leaves the average tariff on U.K. goods at 10%; however, aerospace engines and parts will enter duty-free.
President Donald Trump, responding to a reporter's quote from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the administration is considering tariff exemptions for car seats from China [see Ref:2505060052]), said he doesn't know if he wants to do that.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, after an evening announcement that he would travel to Switzerland to have trade talks with China on May 10 and 11, said that at current levels of tariffs, there's a trade embargo between the two countries.