International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
President Donald Trump, talking to reporters in the Oval Office, declined to say whether tariffs would be tailored to individual countries, or there would be a universal rate on all imports, saying that he'll let them know either Tuesday night, or probably April 2.
Customs attorney Dan Ujczo, who has contacts in the White House as well as clients who are major automakers, said he thinks the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over migration and fentanyl will continue past April 2, and will be stacked with auto tariffs and the reciprocal levies.
Trade facilitation appears to be taking a back seat to trade enforcement, based on recent actions taken by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency to streamline federal operations, said a trade attorney during a March 26 webinar on tariffs and recent trade actions sponsored by Venable.
Reactions from across the U.S. automotive industry and the world poured in after President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on all imports of automobiles beginning April 3.
Customs attorney Dan Ujczo, speaking to an audience of automotive industry compliance officials hosted by the Automotive Industry Action Group, cautioned that if the listeners' companies are exporting auto parts from Mexico or Canada, they shouldn't assume that they have until May 3 before 25% tariffs are going to bite. (This is assuming the parts currently qualify for USMCA and therefore are avoiding the 25% tariffs imposed on exports from those countries under the guise of a national emergency on fentanyl smuggling and migration.)
President Donald Trump said at the White House that tariffs on imported autos, now at 2.5%, will go to 25%. He then signed an executive order, but that order was not yet posted online. The staffer who presented that order said the 25% tariff would be added to existing tariffs.
Additional 25% tariffs for cars and light trucks and cargo vans will take effect 12:01 a.m. ET on April 3, with tariffs on parts including engines and engine parts, transmissions and powertrain parts, and electrical components coming later, but no later than May 3, said an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
As the U.S., Mexico and Canada are poised to renegotiate the free trade agreement known as USMCA among the three countries, expect the U.S. to review the rules of origin and "tighten them" in favor of requiring a higher percentage of North American content, trade attorneys with Miller and Chevalier said on a March 25 webinar sponsored by public accounting firm Forvis Mazars.
At a hearing largely focused on the need to get other countries to lower their tariffs, sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, and discriminatory tariffs on services exports, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee focused on Trump's tariff hikes.