Rep. Don Beyer, a long-time trade liberalization advocate, led a 90-minute hearing making the case against more tariffs in the second Trump administration, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden slammed the economic impact of campaign tariff promises as the Democrats try to use their bully pulpits in the last week before Republicans will have control at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Interest groups' complaints about the two recent International Trade Commission nominees were barely touched on during a hearing at the Senate Finance Committee.
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.
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Congress has not yet finished the text of the government spending bill that needs to pass this week, but House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said in the early afternoon that several trade provisions he had hoped would hitch a ride weren't included. He said his understanding was that the African Growth and Opportunity Act wouldn't be attached, nor would the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program.
Donald Trump's return to the White House brings a "lack of predictability," Baker McKenzie attorneys said during a webinar last week on how threatened tariffs could affect countries around the globe.
Advocacy groups are divided on two nominees to fill vacancies on the U.S. International Trade Commission, with the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) leading a coalition of supporters and the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) calling the process "rushed."
Four Republicans will join the House Ways and Means Committee in January: Reps. Aaron Bean of Florida, Max Miller of Ohio, Nathaniel Moran of Texas and Rudy Yakym of Indiana.
Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel is leaving the FMC to become president of the National Association of Waterfront Employers and executive director of the National Maritime Safety Association, he said in a Dec. 13 statement. “I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity to continue to work within the maritime industry and to contribute to the growth of the terminal operating industry,” he said.
The head of the American Apparel and Footwear Association is urging the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) to continue negotiating with the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) to reach a labor agreement before the current one expires Jan. 15.