National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said July 13 on ABC's "This Week" that the president is not satisfied with "some sketches of deals that had been negotiated with {Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick and the rest of the trade team, and the president thinks that the deals need to be better, and to basically put a line in the sand, he sent these letters out to folks. And we'll see how it works out."
The Court of International Trade on July 10 heard oral argument in importer Detroit Axle's case against President Donald Trump's decision to end the de minimis exemption for Chinese goods. Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif and Jane Restani pressed counsel for both the U.S. and the importer on whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act enables the president to take such action, given the specific language at play in both IEEPA and 19 U.S.C. 1321, the de minimis statute (Axle of Dearborn, d/b/a Detroit Axle v. Dep't of Commerce, CIT # 25-00091).
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
In the July 9 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 59, No. 28), CBP published proposals to revoke ruling letters concerning the tariff classification for tuna and rice kits.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website July 11, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
It remains unclear how the U.S. will apply a new 30% Aug. 1 tariff rate for Mexico that President Donald Trump announced over the weekend in one of his tariff letters.
The Commerce Department is launching a pair of Section 232 investigations into imports of drones and polysilicon from China, according to notices released July 14. Comments are due on Aug. 6 for polysilicon and its derivatives and for drones and their parts.
Suspension of liquidation and antidumping duty cash deposit requirements take effect July 14 for imports of fresh tomatoes from Mexico (A-201-820), after the Commerce Department withdrew from the latest in a series of agreements suspending the duties since 1996.
The chief negotiator for the EU told reporters in Brussels July 14 that his team had thought "we are very close to an agreement," though there were still "quite large gaps" on what the U.S. was offering and what the EU could accept on goods subject to national security tariffs, such as cars and steel, and, perhaps in the future, pharmaceuticals.
President Donald Trump, in a press conference at the White House July 14, said that Russian President Vladmir Putin should have stopped fighting in Ukraine two months ago, and if he does not stop bombing Ukraine within 50 days, the U.S. will impose "secondary tariffs" of 100%.