Fifty-two Democratic lawmakers led by House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, urged the Trump administration April 2 to stop using tariffs to block sales of oil to Cuba, saying the “blockade” is worsening the island country’s humanitarian crisis.
A proclamation issued by President Donald Trump April 2 creates a new "de minimis" exemption from Section 232 metals tariffs for some metal derivatives that contain less than 15% of Section 232 metal content by weight. The proclamation was issued alongside an executive order setting Section 232 tariffs on brand-name pharmaceuticals at 100%, though with exceptions for companies that onshore production.
President Donald Trump signed a series of executive actions Apr. 2 to set Section 232 tariffs on pharmaceutical products and charge a flat 25% rate for steel, aluminum and copper derivative products. The pharmaceutical tariffs will be set at 100% for patented drugs from companies without "most favored nation" drug pricing deals, though that rate may be reduced to 20% for companies that reshore their production to the U.S.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 23-29:
The annual National Trade Estimate, which enumerates hundreds of tariff and non-tariff barriers to U.S. goods and services exports, asserted it would try to "quantitatively assess the potential effect of removing certain foreign trade barriers to particular U.S. exports," but the estimate largely steers clear of estimating the value of lost export sales.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, on Bloomberg TV, said he expects the establishment of a Board of Trade to manage trade between the U.S. and China to be one of the major deliverables of the May summit planned between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump.
A former Bureau of Industry and Security official said the agency is likely to introduce new import restrictions against Chinese technologies, such as robotics, under its Information and Communications Technology and Services-related authorities.
The numerous conditions that the European Parliament put on a bill to lower EU tariffs on U.S. goods and to offer preferential access to some American agricultural products intrigued former trade negotiators, though they had conflicting opinions on how much the U.S. would adjust its approach as a result.
China’s Ministry of Commerce on March 27 began two trade barrier investigations on U.S. policies that it said are harming Chinese commercial interests -- one targeting alleged U.S. actions that “undermine global production and supply chains,” and another examining measures said to “hinder the trade of green products.”
Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., told an audience of libertarians that he argued in a closed-door meeting with other House Ways and Means Democrats that they should campaign on prices, and connect affordability to President Donald Trump's tariffs.