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.
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
China-dependent supply chains developed because of the demands of retailers to sell products at low price points, a panelist explained at the Commerce Department's first supply chain summit, but the company is working to change that.
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.
Imports from China of electric vehicles, EV batteries, solar cells and wafers, face masks, needles and syringes, critical minerals and steel and aluminum will all be hiked Sept. 27, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Sept. 13, as part of a longer-term modification of Section 301 duties.
It's not clear whether removing all Chinese goods or apparel from de minimis would shrink the universe of duty-free imports the most, but the latter approach, combined with a restriction for Section 301 tariff targets, may be gaining support on the Hill.
A bill that would effectively overrule the Treasury Department's implementation of the foreign entity of concern restrictions for battery components and critical minerals in electric vehicle tax credits passed the House of Representatives Sept. 12 by a vote of 217-192.
Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce's Health Subcommittee criticized the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products for giving its blessing to so few vaping delivery systems and liquids put in electronic cigarettes, saying that the vast black market of vaping products is benefiting China, and that having so few legitimate products available makes it more dangerous for smokers who are wanting to switch from cigarettes to vaping, which is less harmful to their health.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told podcast hosts at Bloomberg News that the U.S. and other countries that lost manufacturing jobs as China ramped up its exports from 2000 to 2019 are saying: "We will not tolerate, we cannot tolerate a China Shock 2.0."
A survey of large American-headquartered multinationals -- 40% of which capture more than $1 billion in revenue from Chinese operations -- found as one of their top concerns the rising competitiveness of Chinese companies, whether from subsidization or business advances, or a combination of those factors.