A year after the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission recommended that de minimis be terminated, and that normal trading relations with China be terminated, only one of its top 10 recommendations was about the treatment of imports. Its annual report for 2025 recommends that Congress ban the import of energy storage systems that have remote monitoring capabilities, if they are made by Chinese companies or their technology was licensed by Chinese companies. Most utility-scale storage batteries are lithium-ion, and 80% of those batteries are made in China.
United Autoworkers labor union members from John Deere and Caterpillar visited the Commerce Department last week, asking the agency to launch a Section 232 investigation on imports of heavy machinery and equipment.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said once the agreement with China on rare earth minerals is signed, he expects "that the magnets will flow freely as they did before April 4."
Trade experts -- including the chief negotiator for the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement -- were puzzled by language in a joint statement on the recent Korea tariff deal Nov. 15.
Trade talks with Taiwan have "made a lot of advances," according to a senior administration official, speaking on background with a group of reporters Nov. 13. He had been announcing frameworks with El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador and Argentina, and was asked about which countries might come next.
The U.S. is eliminating 15% tariffs on Ecuadoran bananas and cocoa, and 10% tariffs on Guatemalan coffee and Argentinian beef, as the three countries have reached framework agreements on reciprocal trade.
House Ways and Means Committee member Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, introduced a bill that would either require the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to seek a dispute settlement panel over Mexican energy policies, or to make compliance with USMCA in energy a condition of continuing a pact.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, is asking Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to tell him whether allied governments were consulted before the White House announced that chip exports from Nexperia's China factory would resume, suggesting that the EU was caught flat-footed at the development. Nexperia makes semiconductors used in automobiles.
President Donald Trump told a TV interviewer that there would be "surgical" reductions to reciprocal tariffs, and that he intends to lower tariffs on coffee.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, whose first CEO joined the Office of Management and Budget as associate director for economic policy (see 2502240005), is calling for replacing USMCA with two bilateral trade agreements. The CPA submitted comments for the USMCA six-year review.