Coraly Schreiber, a former CBP attorney, has rejoined international trade boutique firm Yormick Law as counsel, opening an office in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the firm announced. Schreiber worked for CBP for over 19 years, including as branch chief of the fines, penalties and forfeitures division and later as an attorney-adviser. After a five-month stint at Yormick Law in 2023, Schreiber then went back to CBP to serve as an international trade analyst, then as a fines and penalties administrator.
Lawmakers across the country decried President Donald Trump's plan to increase imports of Argentine beef, citing "strong concerns" from the U.S. cattle industry.
Republican leadership of the House Ways and Means Committee on Oct. 27 criticized a proposal by French lawmakers to raise its digital services tax, calling it an "unwarranted attack" on American companies. The proposed increase from 3% to 15% will leave the Trump administration "with little choice but to pursue aggressive retaliatory actions," said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., Subcommittee on Tax Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Subcommittee on Trade Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb.
A group of 36 senators and 171 representatives filed an amicus brief last week at the Supreme Court, challenging President Donald Trump's ability to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. All the signatories were members of the Democratic Party, save for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).
President Donald Trump told reporters Oct. 27 that he had a good meeting with Brazil's president while he was in Malaysia. "We'll see what happens. I don't know if anything's gonna happen, but we'll see. They'd like to do a deal. We'll see. Right now they're paying, I guess, a 50% tariff. But we had a great meeting."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there's no hang-up preventing the South Korean trade framework from moving to a signed deal, "just a lot of details to work out. It's a very complicated deal, and I think we're very close." However, he told reporters on Air Force One on Oct. 27 that he didn't think it would be done by Oct. 29, when the president lands in Korea.
The U.S. released an outline of an agreed-to deal with Vietnam, but said it will be finalized "in coming weeks."
The U.S. and Thailand issued a joint statement on a trade framework over the weekend, which says Thailand will eliminate tariff barriers on about 99% of U.S. exports, while the U.S. will exclude some products from the Sept. 5 Annex III (see 2509050073) to spare them from 19% reciprocal tariffs. Those goods will still be subject to most-favored nation duties, and the 19% is added to MFN, as well. The final agreement will be negotiated over coming weeks, the statement says.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in an appearance on "Meet the Press," evaded a question about the scope and timing of threatened additional 10% tariffs on Canadian goods.
CBP unlawfully excluded two entries of Camel Energy's battery imports for being made with forced labor in China's Xinjiang province, Camel Energy argued in a complaint at the Court of International Trade. The importer said it's not on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, and the batteries in its entries weren't "mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part using forced labor in the" Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) (Camel Energy v. United States, CIT # 25-00230).