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.
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.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after two days of meeting with Chinese negotiators, he anticipates a threatened additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods won't come Nov. 1, and that the Chinese will defer their critical minerals export control licensing scheme.
President Donald Trump signed trade deals with Cambodia and Malaysia, leaving 19% tariffs on both Cambodian and Malaysian goods, with some carve-outs for tropical fruits and woods, minerals, and some goods covered by pending Section 232 investigations, such as aviation parts and chemicals used to make pharmaceuticals. The 19% tariffs layer on top of most-favored nation rates, which, in the case of apparel and shoes that dominate Cambodia's top exports, are already quite high.
President Donald Trump wrote on social media that because of the "serious misrepresentation of the facts" in an ad the government of Ontario ran during the World Series, using excerpts of a Ronald Reagan speech, "I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now. " It's not clear what this would apply to.
A group of 44 leading economists, including former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and four Nobel Prize winners, filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court on Oct. 23 to contest President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs, arguing that the threat underlying the tariffs, sustained trade deficits, don't amount to an "unusual and extraordinary" threat to the U.S. economy, as required by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).
Twenty-seven amicus briefs were filed at the Supreme Court on Oct. 24 in opposition to the ability of President Donald Trump to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, bringing to 35 the total number of amicus briefs filed at the high court against the tariffs. The amici are a mix of law professors, current and former government officials, policy advocacy groups, economists and individual companies.
As importers find themselves in the cross-hairs of CBP's plans to ramp up trade enforcement, they can no longer rely solely on customs brokers and siloed trade compliance departments because the stakes have become too high, trade attorneys suggested during an Oct. 22 Foley & Lardner webinar.
After President Donald Trump posted that he was terminating all trade negotiations with Canada because the government paid for a pro-free-trade ad to air in the U.S., Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters that Canada is ready to resume talks whenever the U.S. is ready.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is launching a Section 301 investigation on how China implemented -- or failed to implement -- its commitments in the phase one trade agreement. It will examine if there was a burden on U.S. commerce from non-implementation "and what action, if any, should be taken in response."