In addition to a directive to change the issuance of importer of record numbers and to increase penalties for those who help ineligible importers (see 2001310062), an executive order issued Jan. 31 tells CBP, in consultation with the U.S. trade representative, to develop compliance scores for each country's mail system. Checks of small packages that come through the mail will be used to evaluate the rates of counterfeit goods and contraband arriving from those countries, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said.
President Donald Trump will hold a signing ceremony for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Jan. 29, a White House spokesman said. Canada's Parliament still needs to ratify the deal, and is expected to begin debate Jan. 29.
President Donald Trump, speaking at a press conference in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, said he'll be talking with World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo in Washington on “a whole new structure” for the WTO. “Roberto and I ... are going to do something that I think will be very dramatic,“ he said. Trump said Azevedo and others in his delegation will come to Washington “sometime next week or the week after, and we'll start working on it.”
Congress passed a law in December that gave the Commerce Department a deadline of Jan. 19 to release its report on the national security threat of imported autos and auto parts. On Jan. 21, Commerce told Congress it would not do so. Sen. Pat Toomey, the Pennsylvania Republican who sponsored the provision in the annual spending bill, responded that “the Department of Commerce is willfully violating federal law. This is unacceptable, and my staff and I are evaluating the potential for corrective action to compel the rightful release of this report.”
President Donald Trump signed the bills funding the federal government through Sept. 30, along with a tax extenders package, before leaving Washington for Florida the evening of Dec. 20. The tax extenders included a provision that will continue the alcohol excise tax break in the Craft Beverage Modernization Act through the end of 2020 (see 1912170067). The Beer Institute hailed the extension with a press release that quoted Dan Kopman, CEO of Heavy Seas Beer in Baltimore, Maryland. “Excise tax relief has given brewers and beer importers of all sizes across the nation the ability to expand and grow, and I urge members of Congress to work together in the new year to make the excise tax rates in the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act permanent.”
Ten days after President Donald Trump tweeted that tariffs on Brazilian and Argentinian steel, and on Argentinian aluminum, would be imposed “immediately,” there has been no Federal Register notice putting his order into action (see 1912020036). White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow told The Wall Street Journal Dec. 10 that a shift from quotas to tariffs on Brazilian and Argentinian metals is not certain, and said, “No decisions have been made.”
Trade groups that oppose tariffs sent President Donald Trump a letter asking that the Dec. 15 tariffs not go into effect if a phase one deal is not reached by then. “We urge you to reach a Phase One deal with China and take the necessary steps to resolve the ongoing trade dispute. We certainly hope that this will lead to further negotiations, which ultimately lead to a final deal that not only addresses our key concerns with the U.S.-China trade relationship, but also eliminates the current tariffs imposed on both goods sourced from China and our goods exported to the critically important China market,” they said. The Americans for Free Trade coalition said in the Dec. 11 letter that it hopes the phase one agreement reduces some tariffs as well.
President Donald Trump should go forward with the planned Dec. 15 tariff increase on goods from China, the Coalition for a Prosperous America said in a Dec. 10 news release. The CPA noted that some 260 U.S. companies sent Trump a letter on Dec. 9 that offered support for the Section 301 tariffs. While the letter doesn't make a specific mention of the Dec. 15 tariffs, the companies were “registering their support for the president’s actions ahead of a December 15 final list of Chinese imports that will be subject to tariffs,” CPA said. CPA Chair Dan DiMicco said “the American people support President Trump’s efforts to confront China” and “this letter includes a wide range of industries that have repeatedly been targeted by China.” There's been some recent indication that the scheduled Dec. 15 tariff increase will not happen at that time (see 1912090057).
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said he doesn't expect the Dec. 15 round of tariffs on consumer goods from China to go into effect then, according to Bloomberg News.“I do not believe those will be implemented and I think we may see some backing away,” Purdue said at a conference in Indianapolis on Dec. 9.
President Donald Trump has “no deadline” for striking a trade deal with China, he told reporters Dec. 3 during a meeting in London. “I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal,” he said. The Chinese “want to make a deal now, and we’ll see whether or not the deal’s going to be right,” he said. “It’s got to be right.” A trade agreement is “dependent on one thing -- do I want to make it?” Trump said. “We’re doing very well with China right now. We can do even better with the flick of a pen.” China didn’t immediately comment. Extending the U.S.-China trade war for another year past the 2020 election would be a “bad deal” for “every segment of the economy,” said David French, senior vice president-government relations at the National Retail Federation. “We want and need to see a deal as soon as possible,” said French. Four rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods at 15 percent and higher “continue to hurt U.S. businesses, workers and consumers and are a substantial drag on the U.S. economy,” he said.