Four Democratic senators brought small business owners to Congress for a press conference May 5 to condemn harm from President Donald Trump's tariffs and to announce legislation to create a tariff exemption for small businesses.
President Donald Trump, in a social media post, complained that other countries are offering "all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States," and that Hollywood and other U.S. regions "are being devastated." He said this is national security threat. "It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!"
Lisa Beth Brown is the new acting director of CBP’s Office of Trade Relations, a CBP spokesperson confirmed. Brown was most recently assistant director for trade operations at CBP's Seattle Field Office, and prior to that was area port director in Savannah and Blaine, Washington. Brown replaces George Bogden, who was reportedly forced out in late April (see 2504250035).
There "very well could be" a trade deal announced this week, President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled back from Florida to Washington on May 4, but he said these won't be tariff negotiations that lead to a signing ceremony, in most cases.
Three former officials at the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration have joined The Bristol Group, the firm announced. Emily Halle, former program manager at ITA, and Andre Gziryan, former senior policy analyst, have joined the firm as senior advisers. In addition, Scarlet Jaldin, former international trade compliance analyst at ITA, joined as an international trade analyst.
Scott McBride, a longtime trade official at the Commerce Department, told us that he has retired from the agency. McBride served at Commerce for about a quarter of a century, initially joining in 2000 as an attorney in the office of the chief counsel for import administration, then working up to associate deputy chief counsel for trade enforcement and compliance -- a position he held since October 2022. McBride said he chose to retire under the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, and that he starts at a private firm on May 5.
As the second Trump administration's tariffs begin to bite, small businesses are more vulnerable to price increases and supply shocks than are large companies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned the Trump administration at an event celebrating its Small Business Day on May 1.
The U.K. has finished gathering public input from industry about the Trump administration’s recent tariff measures (see 2504030057) and is working to “rapidly” analyze the responses “while keeping all options on the table,” the country’s Department for Business and Trade said May 2. It also said possible trade negotiations with the U.S. to remove the tariffs “continue at pace and remain our focus.” The U.K. earlier this year published a list of over 8,000 goods imported from the U.S. that possibly could be hit with retaliatory tariffs.
China is "evaluating" whether to begin trade talks with the U.S. after the Trump administration recently sent messages to Beijing in a bid to start negotiations about recent tariffs imposed by the two nations, China's Ministry of Commerce said May 2, according to an unofficial translation of a portion of a press conference. Senior U.S. officials "have repeatedly expressed their willingness to negotiate with China on tariffs," a ministry spokesperson said. "China is currently evaluating this."
New economic research shows that universal tariffs will not be an effective revenue source for the U.S. government, economists with the Peterson Institute for International Economics said during an event April 30.