Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, without naming Trump, criticized his economic approach, saying a broad-based tariff would be like a sales tax.
The Agricultural Marketing Service will remove flags from about 1,700 Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes in ACE that had previously indicated potential organic filing requirements, CBP said in a CSMS message Oct. 17. The USDA agency’s AM7 flag, which indicates tariff codes that may be subject to AMS organic program filing requirements, will no longer be associated with the HTS codes in Chapters 53-94 of the tariff schedule.
Officials from Squire Patton Boggs said that if Donald Trump returns to the presidency, a 10% tariff or higher on a vast swath of imports could come very quickly, but what wouldn't be subject to the tariffs is not yet clear.
Donald Trump, in a lengthy interview with Bloomberg's editor-in-chief, tripled down on his tariff policy, calling the word tariff "the most beautiful word in the dictionary," and saying that his plan of a 10% tariff on all non-Chinese imports is not nearly enough to reverse factory closures.
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 15 limited the scope of the testimony that will be offered by two of the government's witnesses in a customs spat on the classification of The Comfy, a wearable blanket imported by Cozy Comfort Co. Judge Stephen Vaden said fashion industry professional Patricia Concannon can testify only on topics related to the "sale, marketing, and merchandising of apparel," and that CBP national import specialist Renee Orsat "may not testify about opinions she formed during the Customs’ classification process."
President Donald Trump will be receptive to Sen. Bill Cassidy's proposal to impose a carbon border tax, predicted Dave Banks, a former energy and environment expert in the National Economic Council and National Security Council during the first Trump term.
Trade groups representing corn and soybean farmers say that if Donald Trump imposes 60% tariffs on Chinese imports, as he has promised to do if re-elected, it would devastate their exports to China.
The strong differences in tariff and immigration policies whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the election made it difficult for a think tank's economic outlook, but Alejandro Werner, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said that Mexico will have a slow-down in foreign investment over the next couple of years because of "the uncertainty associated with the continuation of the USMCA regardless of who wins the election."
The Commerce Department seeks public comments on any subsidies, including stumpage subsidies, paid by certain countries that exported softwood lumber to the U.S. Jan. 1 through June 30, 2024, it said in a notice. The Softwood Lumber Act of 2008 requires Commerce to submit a report every 180 days on any subsidy provided by nations exporting softwood lumber or softwood products to the U.S., including subsidies for stumpage. Commerce is seeking input on subsidies paid by countries whose exports composed at least 1% of total U.S. softwood imports by quantity, as classified under tariff schedule subheadings 4407.1100, 4407.1200, 4407.1300, 4407.1400 and 4407.1900, the agency said. International Trade Commission Tariff and Trade DataWeb information indicates that five countries -- Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany and Sweden -- exported that much softwood lumber to the U.S. during that six-month period. Comments are due Nov. 14.
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