President Donald Trump said the trade deal he and Indonesia's president reached will provide U.S. exporters "full access," access exporters never had.
Domestic shrimpers, crawfish harvesters and the Oregon Trawl Commission asked the U.S. trade representative to open a Section 301 investigation to address the unfair trade practice of using "banned veterinary drugs in farm-raised seafood production from China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam" for seafood exported to the U.S.
The chief negotiator for the EU told reporters in Brussels July 14 that his team had thought "we are very close to an agreement," though there were still "quite large gaps" on what the U.S. was offering and what the EU could accept on goods subject to national security tariffs, such as cars and steel, and, perhaps in the future, pharmaceuticals.
President Donald Trump on July 11 appeared to leave open the possibility that USMCA goods will remain exempt from a higher 35% tariff on Canada that he announced the previous day.
The trade negotiation letters that have been coming out of the White House could chill potential dealmaking as countries see the lack of benefit in negotiating with President Donald Trump, according to former senior U.S. trade negotiators speaking during a panel discussion. Unimpressed by the pace and scope of current dealmaking, they argued that the breadth of areas that Trump wants to address with tariff solutions may weaken his ability to get what he wants.
At a luncheon July 9 with the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau, President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter if he supported a renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, so that it doesn't end in September.
Georgetown Law professor Jennifer Hillman, a former International Trade Commissioner and a former general counsel in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, predicted that the Supreme Court may make a decision on the legality of reciprocal tariffs and other tariffs imposed via the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. Hillman, who was speaking on a July 8 webinar about tariffs hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, has been helping challengers to those tariffs, and she said there's "a very good chance that the legal challenges will at least temporarily derail the tariffs imposed under the [law]."
President Donald Trump posted a letter to Brazil's president, telling him: "Due in part to Brazil's insidious attacks on Free Elections and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans," Brazilian exports will face a 50% reciprocal tariff on Aug. 1.
Mayur Patel, former chief international trade counsel to the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has joined Hogan Lovells as a partner in the international trade and investment practice, the firm announced. As a Senate staffer, Patel played a key role in overseeing "major Trump-era trade measures," the firm said. Prior to joining the Senate, Patel worked as associate general counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in different appearances on the same day, said that negotiations do not need to conclude by July 8 to avoid higher reciprocal tariff rates at 12:01 July 9.