If President Trump were to impose 25% tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian imports, because he believes those countries are not doing enough to stop migration and drug trafficking, no industry would be hurt more than the auto industry.
President-elect Donald Trump will most likely either turn to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) or Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose his recently announced tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, said trade lawyers interviewed by Trade Law Daily. Though much remains unknown about how Trump will impose these tariffs, the president-elect may turn to the two broad statutes to impose the tariffs to accomplish his stated goals of curbing the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the U.S.
Four Democratic senators are asking the Treasury Department to end de minimis treatment for all e-commerce shipments, arguing that the regulations under development to restrict de minimis would not go far enough to curtail fentanyl smuggling.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., sent U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai a letter less than two weeks ahead of election day, asking her to quickly initiate a Section 301 investigation on Chinese support for fentanyl trafficking. Families of those who died from overdoses filed a petition last week (see 2410180039).
A group of parents and other family members of those who overdosed on fentanyl are asking the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to double the 25% Section 301 tariffs on lists 1 and 2 under the existing Section 301 action, combined with no de minimis eligibility for all Chinese goods.
Felicia Pullam, executive director of trade relations at CBP, defended the administration's proposal to end de minimis eligibility for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs as workable, arguing that charging a $2 fee per de minimis package will allow the agency to hire more staff to screen for contraband, and pushing back on industry arguments that collecting tariffs on low-value packages costs the agency more than that revenue.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, in a conference session preparing its members for a day lobbying on Capitol Hill, said that the NCBFAA is not arguing for or against a de minimis restriction proposal from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The proposal would require all goods entering in de minimis to be classified with a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule code and would bar apparel, footwear and other "import-sensitive" goods from eligibility.
As the House Ways and Means Committee discusses moving toward a proposal closer to the Senate Finance Committee chairman's bill to restrict de minimis, the top Republican on the Finance Committee is not publicly opposing the core ideas of that bill -- removing apparel and footwear from eligibility from all countries, and not allowing goods subject to Section 301 tariffs to enter duty-free.
The administration rebranded two pending rulemaking processes and revived one that was abandoned in 2021 to address the compliance risks of de minimis shipments as well as shrink the volume of direct-to-consumer imports.
Tariffs on imports from China of electric vehicles, EV batteries, solar cells and wafers, face masks, needles and syringes, critical minerals and steel and aluminum will go up Sept. 27, with more Section 301 tariff hikes planned for Jan. 1, 2025, and Jan. 1, 2026.