The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users noted that the price of steel in the U.S. continues to climb, and the gap between U.S. prices and European prices is $734 a ton, up $118 in the last two weeks, while Chinese manufacturers pay $1,334/ton less than U.S. buyers. "The domestic steel industry’s capacity-utilization rate is up to 85 percent, far above the U.S. Commerce Department’s announced target of 80 percent that was used as a reason for the Trump Administration imposing the Section 232 steel tariffs in 2018," the coalition said. "U.S. manufacturers desperately need more steel, and one way to increase supply is for the Biden Administration to eliminate the Section 232 tariffs. With domestic steel producers enjoying record profits, it’s clear that this tariff protection is no longer needed.”

A new report from the Florida Department of Agriculture says that unfair competition with Mexican imports of blueberries, strawberries, watermelons, bell peppers, sweet corn and tomatoes is costing Florida farmers at least $1.31 billion in lost sales, or 10%, and possibly as much as $2.63 billion, or 20%. The report says that in 2000, Florida farmers of these and other specialty crops sold $3.32 billion worth of produce and that by 2019, it was $2.87 billion. The report does say that from 2005 to 2013, Florida farmers had more revenue from sales than they had in 2000, but since the figures are not adjusted for inflation, that is still not good news for the sector.

Representatives from manufacturing interests operating in Mexico said the COVID-19 pandemic has presented an opportunity to argue for locating more production in North America, for both reliability and speed, but there are still obstacles to making the argument for nearshoring as an answer to vulnerable supply chains. The president of the National Council of the Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry and the director of global trade compliance for Illinois-headquartered manufacturer Regal Beloit spoke at the Wilson Center's "Building a Competitive U.S.-Mexico Border" conference, which was held Aug. 10 and 11.

The National Retail Federation expects record imports through U.S. retail ports in August as consumer demand “continues to stretch supply chains and retailers shift from the back-to-school season to the peak shipping season for winter holiday merchandise,” the association reported Aug. 6. U.S. ports handled 2.15 million 20-foot-long cargo containers in June, which was down 7.8% from May, but up 33.7% from a year earlier, when many stores were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NRF said. It estimates July imports increased 15.7% from a year earlier, to 2.22 million containers, and is forecasting 12.6% year-over-year growth in August volume, to 2.37 million. That would top May’s 2.33 million “for the largest number of containers imported during a single month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002,” the association said. “Strong consumer demand has outpaced supply chain operations since late last year and could remain a challenge as the holidays approach,” said Jonathan Gold, vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “The continuing lack of labor, equipment and capacity has highlighted systemic issues and the need to create a truly 21st century supply chain to ensure resiliency against the next major disruption.”

More than 30 trade groups, led by the U.S.-China Business Council, are asking the Biden administration to retroactively restore product exclusions that expired last year, open a new exclusion application process "and continue negotiations with China to remove both nations’ counterproductive tariffs as soon as possible." In an Aug. 5 letter, the groups said China followed through on phase one promises to open to financial services providers and eliminate market access barriers for beef and some fruits and grains. They acknowledged that China is not on track to meet its purchase commitments, and said that China needs to be prodded to fully implement some other structural commitments, "particularly in the areas of biotechnology, patent linkage, services (including financial services), and protection of intellectual property rights."

An annual survey of U.S. firms with operations in China that are members of the U.S.-China Business Council found that about 80% of firms said that U.S.-China tensions affected their businesses. Of that group, about half said it caused lost sales in China; about a quarter said they lost sales due to Chinese retaliatory tariffs.

Uber Freight will acquire Transplace for about $2.25 billion, the companies said July 22. “Completion of this transaction will enable Uber Freight to serve substantially more customers at all levels of the freight industry and will expand its presence into Mexico and through new capabilities in intermodal and customs brokerage,” Uber said. Uber's purchase of Transplace from private equity firm TPG Capital includes “$750 million in common stock of Uber Freight’s parent company, Uber Technologies” and the rest in cash, it said. The deal shows the ride-hailing company is “leaning into Freight” after divesting noncore businesses, John Blackledge, an analyst at Cowen, wrote to investors July 23.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association asked the Biden administration to bring businesses, shippers and port authorities to the table to find short-term solutions to the shipping crisis.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers trade and tax expert told an audience at the U.S. Fashion Industry Association Virtual Washington Trade Symposium that while the prospect of trade liberalization in the next few years is low, he does not think that threatened tariffs on apparel and other goods from European countries, Turkey and India will be levied in November, in retaliation for digital services taxes. Scott McCandless, who spoke July 14 at the virtual conference, said that although it will be "a complicated dance both internationally and domestically" to arrive at an agreement on the intertwined issues of minimum corporate taxes and digital services taxes, he thinks it's more likely than not that Congress will pass a tax bill this fall that would give countries the right to levy taxes on multinationals that do business in their countries. If that happens, he said, "The DSTs likely go away, and the proposed tariffs on countries that have DSTs will go away as well."

Imports at the largest U.S. retail container ports are continuing to track double-digit year-over-year growth “as strong consumer demand keeps up its momentum,” the National Retail Federation reported July 8. NRF estimates U.S. ports handled 2.33 million 20-foot-long containers in May, up 8.6% sequentially from April and up 52.2% from May 2020, it said. It was the highest amount of imported containers during a single month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002, topping the previous record of 2.27 million set this March. “The year-over-year growth we saw this spring was off the charts because the comparisons were against a time when most stores were shut down due to the [COVID-19] pandemic,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “We’re continuing to see strong growth even as we enter a point when stores had begun to reopen last year. That’s a sign of the tremendous demand from consumers. The challenge for retailers and supply chains is keeping shelves stocked as port congestion and other supply chain disruptions continue to impact the industry and the economy more broadly.”