The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released the U.S. dollar procurement thresholds it will allow from foreign firms under the World Trade Organization agreement on procurement, United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement and the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.
Congress may want to assert itself on trade in softwood lumber, whether by codifying higher tariffs to protect the U.S. lumber industry, or by pushing for a new softwood lumber agreement to end trade remedies. A Dec. 30 Congressional Research Service report also said that Congress could commission a report "on the benefits and costs of softwood lumber duties for the U.S. economy."
The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service released a list of updated quantity trigger levels and applicable periods for products that may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture.
The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, criticized U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer for the U.S.'s communique declaring that the era of most-favored nation tariff rates is over (see 2512160045). In a letter sent last week, Wyden said, "MFN has been integral to U.S. trade policy and a core principle of the international trading system for nearly 80 years, and it ensures that U.S. goods and services can compete on a level playing field in international markets without being targeted with unfair tariffs or regulations."
White House Chief Economic Adviser Kevin Hassett said that refunding tariffs paid by importers "would be very complicated." He said that those importers of record would then have to allocate that money to retailers.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., introduced the Trade Cheating Restitution Act of 2025, which would allow interest on antidumping and countervailing duties collected since 2000 on commodities like honey, crawfish, garlic and mushrooms to be distributed to domestic producers of those products.
Delegations to the World Trade Organization understand that if the WTO doesn't reform, things will get worse, rather than holding steady, according to Petter Olberg, Norway’s ambassador to the WTO and the man facilitating reform discussions.
Angela Ellard, former deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization, has joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as a nonresident senior adviser with its Economic Security and Technology Department, the think tank announced Dec. 15. Ellard joined WTO as deputy director-general in 2021 after serving as chief trade counsel for the House Committee on Ways and Means.
The U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization published a blunt response to reform discussions, arguing that the underpinning of the WTO -- that all countries should receive the same tariff rate, unless there is a comprehensive free-trade agreement between them -- was naive, "and that era has passed."
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer signaled that the Trump administration is preparing a broad overhaul of key parts of the USMCA, focusing on changing non-automobile rules of origin to incentivize U.S. production.