Every Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee told U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that while they want changes to USMCA as part of the six-year review of the pact, he should make clear that the U.S. plans to keep the trilateral free trade agreement, and that he is committed to "a durable, mutually beneficial relationship with our partners that ensures the gains from trade are shared broadly both within and across our North American markets."
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer declined to mention specific products he'd like to facilitate importing from China following talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, but expanded the scope beyond what both he and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previously said.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration will solicit comments on which types of "non-sensitive goods" should get tariff relief, so that trade can be facilitated between the U.S. and China.
Agriculture is one of the few areas in Congress that is still bipartisan, and a desire to roll back tariffs on inputs needed by farmers was mentioned by Democratic and Republican senators recently, though Republicans focused on the 18% trade remedy on Moroccan phosphate, and Democrats were more likely to criticize Section 122 and reciprocal tariffs.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., and 78 other representatives asked U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to "evaluate trade actions that can safeguard U.S. growers from unfair pressures from Mexico" as it reviews the USMCA.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Board of Trade that the U.S. has discussed establishing is aimed at identifying $30 billion worth of Chinese imports of "things that the U.S. doesn’t want to make that we’re never going to reshore," and removing the tariffs from those goods. Bessent gave examples of fireworks "or very low-end consumer goods."
The chief executive and chairman of the American Iron and Steel Institute said that trade policy changes have already undermined Mexico's steel producers, but that it's critical that USMCA be rewritten so that only steel melted and poured in Mexico, Canada or the U.S. be considered originating.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Goettman said he doesn't know if his agency will be able to release conclusions from Section 301 investigations on which countries' actions or inactions have burdened U.S. commerce by the end of June, but he said that once the conclusions are released, there will be an opportunity for stakeholders to comment on those conclusions.
Nearly 4 million more entries have been validated for refunds in CAPE, the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries tool, in the two weeks since the last CBP calculation.
A former director of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative responsible for Brazil said President Donald Trump's meeting last week with Brazilian President Luiz Inacia Lula da Silva "went way better" than she expected.