Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and 25 other House Democrats asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to tell them by July 10 whether the administration is going to carve out baby products from tariffs on Chinese goods. In a letter publicized June 26, the members noted that Bessent said exempting baby products was under consideration on May 7, and that the president also said he would "take a look at it" in response to questions that day.
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notices June 23:
Vietnam and the Philippines are the Southeast Asian countries closest to a trade deal with the U.S., said a former assistant U.S. trade representative on a webinar hosted by the Asia Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on June 17.
The U.S. and China reached an agreement for Beijing to rein in export curbs on critical minerals, and for the U.S. to "provide to China what was agreed to," President Donald Trump said June 11, offering few details about the substance of the deal.
The last time President Donald Trump attended a Group of 7 meeting in Canada, he insulted Canada's prime minister on social media as he flew home -- then, as now, the relationship with allies was strained due to U.S. tariffs (see 1806110028). It also was the only time a member refused to sign the leaders' communiqué.
U.S. domestic manufacturers voiced lukewarm support for trade action, but unanimous concern about the potential scope of the investigation on Section 232 tariffs on imports of critical minerals, in public comments to the Bureau of Industry and Security.
Expert witnesses testified that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule code needs to be refined so that different sizes of semiconductor chips have their own numbers, and, more radically, suggested that the best way to mitigate overdependence on China for legacy chips is to require importers to report where the chips were designed and fabricated within products they are importing.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, after receiving critiques over 10% tariffs on bananas and tariffs on Asian food imports from House Appropriations Committee members, said that countries that sell "unavailable natural resources" like bananas, cocoa, coffee and spices will be allowed to export those goods duty-free, as long as they don't have barriers to U.S. agricultural exports.
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Both on social media and during a press conference, President Donald Trump said China has not fulfilled its promises offered as part of the de-escalation from 145% U.S. tariffs and 125% Chinese tariffs.