President Donald Trump will be receptive to Sen. Bill Cassidy's proposal to impose a carbon border tax, predicted Dave Banks, a former energy and environment expert in the National Economic Council and National Security Council during the first Trump term.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit last week held that tire retailer Texas Truck Parts & Tire was the "beneficial owner" of tires imported by Chinese manufacturers and, as such, is liable for excise taxes on the imports (Texas Truck Parts & Tire v. United States, 5th Cir. # 23-20588).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened a portal to be used for submitting exclusion requests for industrial machinery outside the solar sector.

Two analysts from Rhodium Group said it's quite possible the Commerce Department will give "special authorization" to Volvo and Polestar so that those cars, manufactured in the U.S., can still be sold in 2027 and beyond.

As CBP ramps up its focus on ACE interoperability in the run-up to the start of development of ACE 2.0, an agency official outlined five goods that could benefit from improved integration: e-cigarettes, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics and automotive goods.

A new report from C4ADS says that although only 4% of Chinese pharmaceuticals are manufactured in Xinjiang province, FDA registrations of companies in the Uyghur region show that imports that should be banned under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act are happening.

Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Bárcena said that she has been told that the U.S. will not comply with the panel ruling that said that rollup was understood to be part of the automotive rule of origin (see 2403070067), and she said that is undermining USMCA. She said that's because both the Republicans and the Democrats are fighting for the political support of the United Autoworkers and Teamsters. (The autoworkers' union characterizes rollup as watering down the requirement for North American content in vehicles).

Felicia Pullam, executive director of trade relations at CBP, defended the administration's proposal to end de minimis eligibility for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs as workable, arguing that charging a $2 fee per de minimis package will allow the agency to hire more staff to screen for contraband, and pushing back on industry arguments that collecting tariffs on low-value packages costs the agency more than that revenue.

Claimed price reductions related to changes in packaging costs for Chinese-origin packaged power units for electronic vaporizing devices may not be considered when determining the transaction value of the imported good, according to a recently released CBP ruling.