President Donald Trump said on social media that the CEOs of General Motors and Ford, Mary Barra and Bill Ford, “just called to thank me for putting Tariffs on Mid Size and Large Size Trucks. Their Stock has gone through the roof! They told me that, without Tariffs, it would be a very hard, long ‘slog’ for Truck and Car Manufacturers in the United States. I told them, it’s very simple, this is a National Security matter. With the Tariffs, we have a strong and powerful Economy and Country. Without them, we have the exact opposite!”
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Former Canadian and Mexican trade negotiators speculated at a think tank event about the likelihood that tariffs on goods from their home countries could be removed or lowered soon.
The EU officially published in its Oct. 20 Official Journal the revised carbon border adjustment mechanism, which is expected to exempt 90% of European importers from the new rules (see 2509290011). The European Commission said this "marks the final step in the formal adoption process," allowing the bloc to soon require taxes on certain imports covered by the carbon duty. Traders must pay taxes beginning in 2026 (see 2310020037) and 2410170036).
The EU should expand export controls over advanced technology and impose new tariffs against China to counter Beijing’s sweeping export curbs on rare earths (see 2510090021), a major European think tank said this week.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is asking the Commerce Department to allow exclusions for aluminum and steel products subject to Section 232 tariffs, as they did in the first term, because lobstermen are finding it harder to make a profit due to higher costs.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrat on a Russian secondary sanctions bill, said he's not discouraged that Senate Majority Leader John Thune is putting off a vote on the bill again. The bill has 85 sponsors in the Senate, and would give the president the ability to put up to 500% tariffs on the goods of countries that buy Russian fossil fuels; it also would expand sanctions on Russian officials.
President Donald Trump said that China's President Xi Jinping wants "to discuss the fact that they're paying 157% tariff, it's a little higher than they thought. And we're doing very well. I think we're going to do well in that negotiation."
The 12 U.S. states challenging President Donald Trump's ability to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act filed their reply brief at the Supreme Court on Oct. 20, arguing that the text of IEEPA doesn't allow for any tariffs to be imposed and that Trump's reciprocal tariffs and tariffs to combat the flow of fentanyl don't meet the statute's other requirements (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).