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.
An Indonesian jewelry company and its co-owner, along with two other employees, were charged last week with taking part in a scheme to evade over $86 million in customs duties on jewelry imports, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced. Two of the individuals, Indonesian national Icha Anastasia and Italian national Claudio Fogale, were arrested last week and each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud (United States v. PT Untung Bersama Sejahtera a/k/a UBS Gold, D.N.J. # 2:25-12158).
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said once the agreement with China on rare earth minerals is signed, he expects "that the magnets will flow freely as they did before April 4."
Congress will move toward a vote on a bill that gives the president the authority to hike tariffs on goods from countries that buy Russian energy, and directs him to prohibit banking transactions and foreign exchange transactions for Russian companies doing business with companies or banks in other countries.
The White House released a fact sheet Nov. 13 confirming details of the recent U.S.-South Korea tariff deal.
The White House issued a fact sheet Nov. 14 confirming a trade deal with Switzerland that sets a "cumulative reciprocal tariff rate of no higher than 15%" for Switzerland, giving it the "same treatment given to the European Union."
As U.S. importers navigate the global trade landscape and all its unpredictability, companies should consider creating and adopting a standard operating procedure that addresses all the compliance and transport hiccups that might arise, according to a Nov. 13 webinar, "Beyond Tariffs and Turbulence," which sought to address import compliance issues related to airfreight.
The Trump administration is hindering its stated objectives by holding the USMCA trade agreement hostage and trying to reshape the agreement during the review process, according to experts speaking at a Washington International Trade Association event.
President Donald Trump may look to ramp up his use of sections 232 and 301 should the Supreme Court rule that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act can't be used for levying tariffs, various lawyers told us. However, the expanded use of these statutes, both as they are being used now and how they may be used to supplant the existing reciprocal and fentanyl trafficking tariffs, may encounter legal difficulties.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order late Nov. 14 exempting many agricultural products, including food, from all reciprocal tariffs. The executive order said the new tariff exemptions took effect at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 13.