President Trump signed an executive order Feb. 10 that will hike tariffs on imported aluminum to 25%, ends quota arrangements with the EU, South Korea and Brazil in steel and aluminum, and curtails both product exclusions and the exemptions for Canada and Mexico.
President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force 1 on Feb. 9, said he will impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum from all countries. Most countries' aluminum is currently subject to 10% tariffs, with Canada and Mexico exempted from Section 232 steel and aluminum duties. He did not say when the tariff changes would take effect.
Forbes Tate Partners hired a former trade adviser to Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to join its government relations team to expand the firm's tariff, tax, economic, and financial technology areas. The firm's founding partners said Tori Smith "maintains robust connections throughout Congress and the Executive Branch." Blackburn is a member of the Senate Finance Committee.
Four senators, two from each party, reintroduced a bill that would authorize the U.S. trade representative, in consultation with Congress about objectives, to negotiate specialized trade agreements focused on critical minerals and rare earth elements. Those trade agreements also would need to get a vote of approval from Congress before they could enter into force.
CBP has released its Feb. 5 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 59, No. 6), which includes the following ruling actions:
Even as President Donald Trump talked about his intention to announce tariff changes next week, he expressed confidence that Japan might be spared, because of their promises to buy more American exports.
President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters during a Feb. 7 press conference with Japan's Prime Minister, said that he would probably announce, either Monday or Tuesday, Feb. 10 or Feb. 11, "reciprocal tariffs where a country pays so much or charges us so much and we do the same, so very reciprocal because I think that's the only fair way to do it, that way nobody's hurt. They charge us, we charge them."
The reversal of an order banning Chinese products from de minimis startled importers and members of the Senate Finance Committee, who were puzzling about how long it would be until the policy flipped again, and why the Commerce Department, which has never had involvement in de minimis before, has been put in charge of deciding when to implement the order.
Duty-free de minimis treatment is available for Chinese-origin goods again, but only until "notification by the Secretary of Commerce to the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue for all Chinese products," the White House said in an amendment to its Feb. 1 executive order on China tariffs.
The European Commission is considering exempting more than 80% of companies that otherwise would be subject to import tariffs under the bloc’s upcoming Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said this week. Hoekstra said the EU has found that the law may disproportionately target companies that aren’t responsible for most carbon emissions.