Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking on the Sunday CBS program "Face the Nation," said March 2 that "the big tariff program," or reciprocal tariffs, will be outlined on April 2. That report is going to show what other countries' tariffs are on specific goods, what non-tariff barriers have been identified, and what kind of currency manipulation, financing interventions or "labor manipulation" distorts international trade.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, blocked his effort to pass a bill through the Senate unanimously that would require Congress to approve tariffs imposed on free-trade partners like Mexico and Canada, or on NATO and major non-NATO allies.
President Donald Trump said he's "very receptive" to reaching a trade deal with the United Kingdom that would mean hiking tariffs on the U.K. wouldn't be necessary. Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a joint press conference after their meeting Feb. 27, which Starmer opened by emphasizing that trade is fair and balanced between the two countries.
WilmerHale International Trade Practice leader David Ross told panelists on a discussion of reciprocal trade that, "contrary to some earlier expectations, there are indications that the president is not planning to do a line-by-line" tariff adjustment to match tariff levels of trading partners, but, rather, to seek to quantify the costs of higher tariffs and other policies he sees as trade barriers, and to put a single tariff rate on the country's products.
President Donald Trump, perhaps seeking to clarify remarks he made in the Oval Office the previous day (2502260032), posted in the morning Feb. 27 that the fentanyl-related tariffs "scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled."
Jamieson Greer, the former chief of staff to the U.S. trade representative during the first Trump administration, was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 26, with a 56-43 vote. Five Democrats supported him, including both Michigan senators and Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and John Hickenlooper of Colorado. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted no.
Lobbyists from Foley & Lardner told a webinar audience that they expect tariffs under the push for reciprocal trade to be implemented "as early as June or July."
President Donald Trump exaggerated the death toll of fentanyl overdoses while discussing tariffs at a White House Cabinet meeting Feb. 26, and said, "I'm going to be very hard to satisfy" on whether Mexico and Canada have done enough to stop fentanyl smuggling at their respective borders.
President Donald Trump, when asked about whether Canada and Mexico had done enough on the border to be spared 25% tariffs on their goods, went on a rant about how the U.S. has been taken advantage of by its trading partners, and said that reciprocal tariffs will go forward.
President Donald Trump, when asked about whether Canada and Mexico had done enough on the border to be spared 25% tariffs on their goods, went on a rant about how the U.S. has been taken advantage of by its trading partners, and said that reciprocal tariffs will go forward.