President Joe Biden is less likely to suspend some Section 301 tariffs on goods from China following a recent visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to Taiwan, Sidley Austin lawyer Ted Murphy said in a blog post. "Before the visit, our view was that the Administration was leaning toward suspending some of the duties," he said. "China’s reaction to the Speaker’s visit, coupled with the fact that this is an election year, however, makes it hard to see that happening now. In our view, any action on the Section 301 duties will likely be tabled until after the November election."
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative heard from business groups, businesses that offer traceability solutions and civil society groups, 45 in all, on how to shape a forced labor strategy -- but their views diverged strongly on what the approach should be.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of July 25-31:
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative often found itself weighing the possible harm to U.S. consumers from the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs against the need to give the duties enough teeth to curb China’s allegedly unfair trade practices, the agency said in its 90-page “remand determination,” filed Aug. 1 at the Court of International Trade (In Re Section 301 Cases, CIT #21-00052). Submitting its bid to ease the court's concerns over modifications made to the third and fourth tariff waves, USTR provided its justifications for removing various goods from the tariff lists ranging from critical minerals to seafood products.
House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said that even though the politics around an end-of-year tax extender may change if Congress makes some renewable energy tax credits permanent, he believes it's still likely that the modernization act for the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill can get done by the end of the year.
Although President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump's China tariffs on the campaign trail, Peterson Institute for International Economics Senior Fellow Chad Bown said he always thought it was unlikely Biden would roll any of them back, because there are "huge political costs" to doing so, because opponents could label you as "weak on China."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaking on the floor of the Senate just before the CHIPS bill passed, said he wants the conference committee for the House and Senate China packages to continue negotiating.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo acknowledged that lifting Section 301 tariffs is one of the few levers the White House has to lower inflation right now, but implied that President Joe Biden is hesitating because unions are arguing it would hurt workers.