The U.S. and China reached an agreement for Beijing to rein in export curbs on critical minerals, and for the U.S. to "provide to China what was agreed to," President Donald Trump said June 11, offering few details about the substance of the deal.
The last time President Donald Trump attended a Group of 7 meeting in Canada, he insulted Canada's prime minister on social media as he flew home -- then, as now, the relationship with allies was strained due to U.S. tariffs (see 1806110028). It also was the only time a member refused to sign the leaders' communiqué.
As the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit mulls the government's emergency stay motion against a Court of International Trade decision permanently enjoining tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, five different groups of amici filed briefs at the appellate court either attacking or defending the trade court's ruling.
China is reviewing export license applications for rare earths "in accordance with laws and regulations," a Commerce Ministry spokesperson said in response to concerns from other countries that China is curbing those exports. China "has approved a certain number of compliant applications in accordance with the law, and will continue to strengthen the approval of compliant applications," the spokesperson said at a press conference with reporters, according to an unofficial translation. "China is willing to further strengthen export control communication and dialogue with relevant countries in this regard to promote convenient and compliant trade."
Expert witnesses testified that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule code needs to be refined so that different sizes of semiconductor chips have their own numbers, and, more radically, suggested that the best way to mitigate overdependence on China for legacy chips is to require importers to report where the chips were designed and fabricated within products they are importing.
China this week criticized the Trump administration's decision to double tariffs on steel and aluminum, saying the tariffs will backfire on the U.S. and “seriously disrupt the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain.”
On June 4, the FDA posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
President Donald Trump got the phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping he'd been seeking, and Trump wrote on social media that "there should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products."
Two Republican senators on the Appropriations Committee whose states have major foreign automakers' factories asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick if the administration would support an export credit for major auto exporters. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., referred to the fact that about two-thirds of the Mercedes vehicles assembled in Alabama are exported, and asked if an export credit is still under discussion.
The Commerce Department is asking for public comments on its proposals to revise the current policy of assessing entries of unaffiliated resellers at the all-others antidumping duty rate and to eliminate expedited countervailing duty reviews. Comments are due by July 7.