Former President Donald Trump said last week that he might put not just a blanket 10% tariff on imports from countries other than China, but 20% tariffs, at least on "foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years" (see 2408140058).
The Coalition to Close the De Minimis Loophole on July 23 sent a letter to President Joe Biden emphasizing what they said are the continued dangers posed by the unchecked flow of unexamined small packages imported into the U.S.
President Joe Biden released a statement July 23 calling on Congress to reauthorize the African Growth and Opportunity Act ahead of a forum this week on the trade deal, which is set to expire in 2025. “America is all in on Africa,” Biden said in the statement.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, has said that former President Donald Trump's tariff policy was a "trade tax that has resulted in American families spending as much as $1.4 billion more on everything from shampoo to washing machines."
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, in a long acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention July 18, said Chinese companies are building large automobile factories in Mexico, and that "the United Auto Workers ought to be ashamed for allowing this to happen." He also said their leader "should be fired immediately, and every single autoworker, union and nonunion, should be voting for Donald Trump because we’re going to bring back car manufacturing, and we’re going to bring it back fast."
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, in a sit-down interview with Bloomberg shortly before the attempt on his life, argued that tariffs are "phenomenal" economically -- "and man, is it good for negotiation."
Although it's possible presidential candidate Donald Trump was just riffing when he proposed eliminating the federal income tax and replacing the revenue with tariffs, the White House Council of Economic Advisers is countering the idea with a white paper it issued July 12.
The White House on May 31 extended a one-year exception for 25% tariffs on steel from Ukraine, one day before the waiver was set to expire (see 2205310061. This will be the third year Ukrainian steel has been allowed to avoid the tariffs.
The U.S. and Kenya committed to try to conclude the U.S.-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment partnership by the end of the year, they said in a joint statement.
Full details about the Section 301 exclusion process will be revealed next week, but a White House memo said that importers of machinery in chapters 84 and 85 will need to submit requests for exclusions, even though the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative already has compiled a list of HTS codes it sees as appropriate targets for exclusions. The memo said there will be a way to register opposition to those requests, as well. The memo said the USTR "shall prioritize, in particular, exclusions for certain solar manufacturing equipment."