President Donald Trump, at an event in the Oval Office about rural health care, segued from talking about how he pressured the president of France to have his health system pay more for pharmaceuticals to talking about imposing tariffs on countries that are resisting his plans for Greenland.
The New York Times reported that Taiwan is close to reaching a tariff deal with the U.S., and its headline tariff rate will be reduced from 20% to 15%. Most Taiwanese exports are not facing any tariffs, because they were carved out of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff actions.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, on the All-In podcast episode hosted by a Canadian-American venture capital billionaire, said India has not gotten a trade deal because the U.S. no longer wanted to offer the terms they'd agreed to when India's prime minister didn't call President Donald Trump within a three-week window.
The White House implemented its extension of agricultural quotas for Israel through Dec. 31, 2026, through a notice to be published in the Federal Register Jan. 8. The agreement extends duty-free treatment of some agricultural products imported under-quota; the U.S. plans to make these concessions permanent in a year's time (see 2512300003).
President Donald Trump, in a lengthy pep-talk to House Republicans about how to win the midterms, said that his threats of tariffs caused drug companies to lower prices in the U.S., as European countries agreed to pay more for the same medicines.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the lead Republican in the Senate pushing for higher tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, talked up his bill to reporters on Air Force One as he and the president flew back from Palm Beach, Florida. President Donald Trump said, "We talk a lot about legislation, and we have great legislation coming, you want to tell them?"
The White House said it has made an agreement with Israel to offer permanent concessions on some agricultural products, the outlines of which were first established in 2004, but since there needs to be more time to make the permanent modifications, it is offering one more year of duty-free access.
The Agriculture Department announced on Dec. 12 that Mexico had agreed to release water from the Rio Grande to Texas farmers. This irritant had caused President Donald Trump to threaten Dec. 8 to hike International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs on Mexico from 25% to 30% (see 2512090013). Those tariffs apply to goods that don't qualify under USMCA, and are not subject to Section 232 tariffs.
Correction: Only two subheadings, 3301.12.00 and 3301.90.50, which cover some fertilizers and essential oils, were listed under new exemptions for 40% additional tariffs from Brazil but aren't exempt from reciprocal tariffs. The other minor differences between the two lists account for existing tariff exemptions (see 2511210001).
President Donald Trump, speaking at a Saudi investment forum, said that if the Supreme Court rules against the use of national emergency authorities to impose reciprocal tariffs, the administration will manage.