The U.S. will lower its reciprocal tariffs on Switzerland to “a maximum of 15%” under a tariff deal announced by the Swiss government Nov. 14. As part of the deal, Switzerland will reduce its tariffs on “a range of U.S. products,” including industrial and agricultural products, and its companies “are planning to make direct investments in the USA amounting to” $200 billion by the end of 2028.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order late Nov. 14 exempting many agricultural products from all reciprocal tariffs. The executive order said the new tariff exemptions took effect at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 13.
The U.S. is eliminating 15% tariffs on Ecuadoran bananas and cocoa, and 10% tariffs on Guatemalan coffee and Argentinian beef, as the three countries have reached framework agreements on reciprocal trade.
President Donald Trump told a TV interviewer that there would be "surgical" reductions to reciprocal tariffs, and that he intends to lower tariffs on coffee.
Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 may be a more limited "fall-back option" for the Trump administration should the Supreme Court strike down all the tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Dr. Mona Paulsen, law professor at the London School of Economic Law School, wrote in a blog post.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
There are probably five justices who will find that the reciprocal tariffs were not permissible under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that the president used to impose them, according to Georgetown University Law Center Professor Marty Lederman. Lederman, a senior fellow in the Supreme Court Institute at Georgetown, was one of two guests on the weekly Washington International Trade Association podcast that aired Nov. 7.
NEW YORK -- Geodis Vice President Ed Fitzgerald and Maytee Pereira, Customs and International Trade co-leader at PwC, told trade compliance professionals that CBP scrutiny is getting stricter.
NEW YORK -- Although the president's obsession with domestic manufacturing doesn't extend to apparel, there are no signs the administration will adjust tariff policy to make clothing imports more affordable, or even adjust rules of origin to privilege nearshoring, an old Washington hand told the U.S. Fashion Industry Association annual conference audience.
Several Democratic senators talked about their legislative efforts to rein in President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff hikes the same day that the Supreme Court grappled with the question of whether Congress gave away too much of its power to the president to set tariffs.