The U.S. will consider a revival of Section 301 investigations on digital services taxes in several countries, as well as potential tariffs to counter “trade and regulatory practices” in those and other countries that “discriminate against” or “disproportionally affect” U.S. companies, under a memo signed by President Donald Trump Feb. 21.
Improving trade for U.S. cars in Europe is "clearly the priority" for American trade negotiators, according to European Union Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who had a four-hour meeting Feb. 19 with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, U.S. trade representative nominee Jamieson Greer and Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council.
The former chief textiles and apparel negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has been hired as the National Council of Textile Organizations vice president of policy. Katherine White previously worked as a trade counsel at the House Ways and Means Committee and as a program analyst at the International Trade Administration.
The Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws asked leaders at DHS, the Commerce Department, the International Trade Commission and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to protect recent hires who have been targeted for dismissal by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws asked leaders at DHS, the Commerce Department, the International Trade Commission and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to protect recent hires who have been targeted for dismissal by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The White House announced this week it has selected Joseph Barloon to be its ambassador to the World Trade Organization, a role of a deputy U.S. trade representative. Barloon served as general counsel to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 2019-2020, during the first Trump administration. He also was nominated to be a judge at the Court of International Trade by President Donald Trump in that first term but wasn't confirmed (see 2102050032).
The EU chairman of the Committee for International Trade and a former U.S. trade representative predicted that the trade dispute between the U.S. and the EU is unlikely to subside soon due to "fundamental disagreements" over economic policy.
The reciprocal tariffs that the U.S. intends to levy on imports -- which could be announced as soon as April 2 -- may not be a one-for-one match of the tariff rate of another country for that product. Rather, they could take into account wage suppression, exchange rate management, "mercantilist policies," non-tariff barriers, value-added tax and extraterritorial taxes.
All Senate Finance Committee Republicans, joined by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., voted on Feb. 12 to approve the nomination of Jamieson Greer to be the next U.S. trade representative. The vote was 15-12 in favor of the nomination.
President Donald Trump's chief spokesman from his first term said that half-baked orders from the White House -- like an order to end de minimis for Chinese goods that CBP was not ready to implement -- is in part a result of Trump's memories of his staff trying to slow-walk and stop his tariff ideas.