Howard Lutnick, whose nomination advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee Feb. 2 with a 16-12 vote, told senators from both parties that, despite the president's announcements that he would have "direct responsibilities over the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative," the scope of responsibilities for the USTR won't change, and his agency will coordinate with others working on trade policy.
President Donald Trump nominated William Kimmitt, current partner at Kirkland & Ellis, to serve as head of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration. Kimmitt served in the first Trump administration as counsel to the U.S. trade representative and was involved in the implementation of the USMCA. At Kirkland & Ellis, Kimmitt is a litigation partner, focusing on international trade and Section 337 unfair import investigation proceedings.
Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to President Donald Trump who was known as a China hawk when he served in the president's first administration, said the Commerce Department will be conducting Section 232 investigations on how the steel and aluminum actions should be adjusted, and how imports of critical minerals and essential medicines "are harming [our] ability to produce" those goods.
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing Feb. 6 to consider the nomination of Jamieson Greer to be the U.S. trade representative. Greer was the chief of staff in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during President Donald Trump's first term in office.
President Donald Trump told reporters that there are no concessions Mexico, Canada or China could make to avoid tariffs on Feb. 1, which he wants to use to punish them for trade deficits, fentanyl trafficking, and, in the case of Canada and Mexico, migration across their borders.
President Donald Trump announced his intention to use tariffs to force countries to accept planes full of their deported citizens, as well as new sector specific targets beyond steel and aluminum.
Dan Stirk, former chief counsel for litigation in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, has joined Picard Kentz as counsel in the international trade practice, the firm announced. Stirk served as an attorney-adviser at USTR for nearly 18 years, covering World Trade Organization and free trade agreement dispute settlement proceedings, compliance proceedings and arbitration, the firm said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, as instructed by the America First trade policy presidential memo, is undertaking a review of the phase one agreement with China, it said. That review is due to the president April 1.
The Trump administration could be laying the groundwork to take broad and sweeping action on trade policy around April 1 when an internal review on U.S. trade policy is due, according to trade lawyers from Barnes Richardson.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, who voted against USMCA because he felt it moved too much in the direction of managed trade, told an audience at a Council on Foreign Relations event Jan. 23 that, despite all of his talk of tariffs, "a lot of folks will be surprised at the extent to which President [Donald] Trump will pursue broad, aggressive tariffs."