Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after two days of meeting with Chinese negotiators, he anticipates a threatened additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods won't come Nov. 1, and that the Chinese will defer their critical minerals export control licensing scheme.
President Donald Trump signed trade deals with Cambodia and Malaysia, leaving 19% tariffs on both Cambodian and Malaysian goods, with some carve-outs for tropical fruits and woods, minerals, and some goods covered by pending Section 232 investigations, such as aviation parts and chemicals used to make pharmaceuticals. The 19% tariffs layer on top of most-favored nation rates, which, in the case of apparel and shoes that dominate Cambodia's top exports, are already quite high.
The Trump administration signaled that it doesn't expect to have a signing ceremony of a trade framework with South Korea while the president is there in the coming days for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
After President Donald Trump posted that he was terminating all trade negotiations with Canada because the government paid for a pro-free-trade ad to air in the U.S., Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters that Canada is ready to resume talks whenever the U.S. is ready.
President Donald Trump, after a commercial aired in Ontario with audio from Ronald Reagan pointing out that tariffs harm the country that imposes them, declared on social media after 11 p.m. Oct. 23, "Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED."
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is launching a Section 301 investigation on how China implemented -- or failed to implement -- its commitments in the phase one trade agreement. It will examine if there was a burden on U.S. commerce from non-implementation "and what action, if any, should be taken in response."
Think tank and academic experts say that China and the U.S. are misinterpreting both sides' actions and the other country's vulnerability to the trade war, and that may extend the battles.
Nicholas Burns, a career diplomat who served as ambassador to China in the Biden administration, told the Atlantic Council that while the Trump administration may have miscalculated "that China didn't have real weight to throw around," he also thinks President Donald Trump has been right to be "tough-minded" on China's economic policies.
President Donald Trump pushed back on complaints from cattle ranchers and politicians who have large cattle industries in their states, arguing that the 50% tariff he put on Brazilian beef already juiced their bottom lines.
Former Canadian and Mexican trade negotiators speculated at a think tank event about the likelihood that tariffs on goods from their home countries could be removed or lowered soon.