House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., declined to say if she'd join forces with colleagues who want to end the president's ability to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but said, "I certainly think they're on the right track."
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.
Tariffs will be delayed on Canada, President Donald Trump decided about eight hours before the deadline, and hours after he announced Mexico wouldn't face tariffs for the next month. He also granted Canada 30 days to convince him to keep duty-free trade flowing.
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.
Importers should be prepared for uncertainty when it comes to the specifics on tariffs and have plans in place to adjust supply chains and tariff classifications accordingly, lawyers said in webinars by Deringer on Jan. 29 and Barnes & Thornburg on Jan. 30.
President Donald Trump, in response to a question from a reporter at the White House, said 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico are coming on Feb. 1, on Saturday.
Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick vigorously defended the prospect of imposing tariffs on all goods from places like the EU, Japan or South Korea during his confirmation hearing Jan. 29, saying those countries deserve it, as they either use food safety rules to protect their farmers, put up barriers to American car imports, or undercut American manufacturing with their exports of manufactured goods.
North America trade expert Dan Ujczo, from Thompson Hine, was expecting 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico to begin Jan. 20.
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."