The incoming administration is thinking about applying tariffs on strategic goods from all countries, rather than a 10% or 20% global tariff, The Washington Post reported, citing three anonymous sources.
A December report from the Labor Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst alleges that outdoor lifestyle retailer REI has not been vigilant about ensuring the prevention of forced labor in its supply chain. REI said it's "deeply committed" to holding supply partners to "the highest standards of accountability."
President-elect Donald Trump, in a social media posting Dec. 20, wrote: "I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!"
Venable lawyers said no one knows whether President-elect Donald Trump will hike tariffs on China by 10 percentage points, by 60 percentage points, or bring current tariff levels to 60%. Nor does anyone know if the threat of 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican exports will become reality.
The U.S. has asked Canada for formal consultations on the 3% digital services tax on revenues of large social media platforms, e-commerce platforms and other companies that target advertising or collect data from Canadian customers.
China last week imposed sanctions against U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., for frequently making "remarks and actions that interfere in China's internal affairs and undermine China's sovereignty, security and development interests," China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said it will impose an asset freeze and travel ban on McGovern.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said July 8 that he hopes to have a "significant package of China-related legislation" signed into law this year, including a provision that moved out of the House Ways and Means Committee that would make goods subject to Section 301 tariffs ineligible for de minimis treatment. All goods from China would have to enter with a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification code upon entry so that CBP could enforce the law. That bill also included new penalties for de minimis violations beyond forfeiture of the package (see 2404180068). Johnson said these changes would "rein in the de minimis privilege" that China is exploiting.
In the April 10 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 14), CBP published a proposal to revoke ruling letters concerning various spot locator beacons.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a LAN transformer that allows cars to communicate to networks, made by Sichuan Jingweida Technology, was the reason Audis and Porsches couldn't enter the U.S. until that part was replaced. That firm is on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's entity list.
The European Council and Parliament reached a deal on a new set of rules to ban imports suspected of being made with forced labor, including how the ban will be enforced and how the bloc will investigate and penalize violations.