The Court of International Trade on July 10 heard oral argument in importer Detroit Axle's case against President Donald Trump's decision to end the de minimis exemption for Chinese goods. Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif and Jane Restani pressed counsel for both the U.S. and the importer on whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act enables the president to take such action, given the specific language at play in both IEEPA and 19 U.S.C. 1321, the de minimis statute (Axle of Dearborn, d/b/a Detroit Axle v. Dep't of Commerce, CIT # 25-00091).
In the July 9 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 59, No. 28), CBP published proposals to revoke ruling letters concerning the tariff classification for tuna and rice kits.
It remains unclear how the U.S. will apply a new 30% Aug. 1 tariff rate for Mexico that President Donald Trump announced over the weekend in one of his tariff letters.
The Commerce Department is launching a pair of Section 232 investigations into imports of drones and polysilicon from China, according to notices released July 14. Comments are due on Aug. 6 for polysilicon and its derivatives and for drones and their parts.
President Donald Trump, in a press conference at the White House July 14, said that Russian President Vladmir Putin should have stopped fighting in Ukraine two months ago, and if he does not stop bombing Ukraine within 50 days, the U.S. will impose "secondary tariffs" of 100%.
The chief negotiator for the EU told reporters in Brussels July 14 that his team had thought "we are very close to an agreement," though there were still "quite large gaps" on what the U.S. was offering and what the EU could accept on goods subject to national security tariffs, such as cars and steel, and, perhaps in the future, pharmaceuticals.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The U.S. will increase blanket reciprocal tariff rates for countries that haven’t received a tariff letter to 15% or 20%, President Donald Trump said in a phone interview with NBC News July 10, the broadcast news outlet reported.
President Donald Trump on July 11 appeared to leave open the possibility that USMCA goods will remain exempt from a higher 35% tariff on Canada that he announced the previous day.
The trade negotiation letters that have been coming out of the White House could chill potential dealmaking as countries see the lack of benefit in negotiating with President Donald Trump, according to former senior U.S. trade negotiators speaking during a panel discussion. Unimpressed by the pace and scope of current dealmaking, they argued that the breadth of areas that Trump wants to address with tariff solutions may weaken his ability to get what he wants.