President Donald Trump threatened to double Section 232 tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%, starting March 12, after Ontario placed a 25% surcharge on electricity exported to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. However, Ontario Premier Rob Ford later dropped the surcharge, and Trump told White House reporters he "probably" would not follow through with the threat as a result.
Canadians and New Englanders, brought together by the New England-Canada Business Council, expressed bewilderment at the trade war directed at Canada, but said that President Donald Trump's actions will not be easily overcome as the two countries start to talk about how to change the NAFTA successor agreement in its sunset review.
President Donald Trump, contrary to his commerce secretary's suggestion a day earlier that tariffs might be lower than 25% on Mexican and Canadian goods over border issues, told reporters March 3 that "tomorrow, tariffs, 25% on Canada, 25% on Mexico" will be imposed.
President Donald Trump said he's "very receptive" to reaching a trade deal with the United Kingdom that would mean hiking tariffs on the U.K. wouldn't be necessary. Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a joint press conference after their meeting Feb. 27, which Starmer opened by emphasizing that trade is fair and balanced between the two countries.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the Feb. 24 Federal Register on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) injury, Section 337 patent or other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):
The former chief counsel for trade enforcement strategy at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, who led the four-year review of Section 301 tariffs and the launch of a Section 301 investigation on mature chips, has joined DLA Piper as a partner in the national security and global trade practice. Brian Janovitz worked at USTR for more than 10 years, and also was involved in litigation, such as the biotech corn dispute, which the U.S. won.
The International Trade Commission seeks comments by March 4 on a Section 337 complaint alleging that imports of semiconductor devices infringe patents held by Longitude Licensing and Marlin Semiconductor Limited, it said in a notice to be published Feb.24. According to the complaint, the complainants are seeking a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Apple, Broadcom, Lenovo, OnePlus, Motorola Mobile Communication Technology Ltd. and Qualcomm to bar from entry "certain foreign-fabricated semiconductor devices, products containing the same, and components thereof" that violate the complainant's patents. The categories of the articles involved are "non-x86 semiconductor devices, consisting of semiconductor wafers or semiconductor dies, manufactured using TSMC’s 7 nm and smaller process nodes outside of the United States."
President Donald Trump, in a meandering speech at an investors conference in Miami Feb. 19, said he'd be announcing "tariffs on cars and semiconductors and chips and pharmaceuticals, drugs, and pharmaceuticals, and lumber, probably, and some other things, over the next month, or sooner -- and it'll have a big impact in America."
Howard Lutnick is now the commerce secretary, after the Senate voted 51-45 to confirm him the evening of Feb. 18. All the Republicans present at the time of the vote endorsed Lutnick.
President Donald Trump said that he will "probably" say more about the scope of tariffs on cars "on April 2, but it'll be in the neighborhood of 25%," in response to a question at a press conference Feb. 18.