President Donald Trump, still upset about General Motors' plans to shutter assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio, and transmission plants in Michigan and Maryland, tweeted that if the tariff on cars matched the one on light trucks, "many more cars would be built here," and GM would not be closing the plants. "Get smart Congress," he tweeted on Nov. 28. "The President has great power on this issue - Because of the G.M. event, it is being studied now!"
Sen Rob Portman, R-Ohio, predicted on Nov. 28 that a plan toward ending the steel and aluminum tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico will come before Nov. 30. "My sense is Mexico might not sign [the new NAFTA] at the end of this week unless there's some sort of resolution," he said to a group of about 35 at the Hudson Institute. The Mexican ambassador has said his country would sign without a resolution on the tariffs, as long as there is a clear path to reach one (see 1811200036). But as far as preventing Section 232 tariffs on autos -- a matter of great concern for the EU and Japan -- Portman suggested he is powerless to even get a hearing on his related bill. "If you have any influence with the Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee," he told the audience, he would like them to use it. "We need a hearing."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 19-23 in case they were missed.
An aluminum manufacturer, aluminum consumers and the head of the dairy processors' lobby told reporters and congressional staff members that they don't want quotas as a resolution to the metals tariffs on Canada and Mexico -- even if those quotas have "head room" above current production, as they said is rumored.
CBP has assessed more than $10.3 billion in duties under the recent major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of Nov. 20, a CBP spokeswoman said. That marks an increase in assessed duties of more than $3 billion since the previous CBP update with numbers from about a month ago (see 1811210013). Most of that increase stems from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, which now account for about $5.8 billion in assessed duties, she said. The first tranche of Section 301 tariffs took effect on July 6 (see 1807050033); the second list took effect on Aug. 23 (see 1808070046); and the third, on Sept. 24 (see 1809240015). CBP also has assessed about $3.1 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $991 million under tariffs on aluminum, the spokeswoman said. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines and solar cells (see 1801230052) account for $489 million in assessed tariffs, she said.
The Commerce Department will hold public testing sessions Dec. 6-7 in Washington as part of its development of an online portal to handle requests for exemptions from Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products, it said in a notice. Once the portal is established, the portal will replace the current process on regulations.gov, “streamlining” the exclusion process by using web-based forms and allowing users to view and track exclusion requests, objections and rebuttals in a single system. Commerce intends to transition to the new portal “sometime in late 2018 to early 2019,” it said. Before it does, the agency will issue amendments to its Section 232 regulations and allow for public comments on the new process. Requests to participate in testing should be submitted by email by Nov. 29. Remote testing will not be available, and participants must pay their own travel costs to Washington. Only citizens and lawful permanent residents of the U.S. will be eligible to test. Participation will be capped at 36 people, with priority given to those that have submitted documents related to Section 232 exclusion requests.
The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body is establishing panels to review seven countries' complaints about Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as panels on Chinese, Canadian, Mexican and European retaliatory tariffs in response to those tariffs. The countries that requested a WTO verdict about the U.S. action include China, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Turkey and the European Union. All said that the tariffs, claimed as necessary to protect national security, are really safeguards, but the U.S. did not follow safeguard rules. The retaliatory tariffs, aimed to mirror the cost of the tariffs, are illegal, the U.S. argues. Countries hit by safeguard tariffs can raise tariffs in response, but only after a WTO panel says they can.
CBP has assessed more than $7.1 billion in duties under the recent major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of mid-October, a CBP spokeswoman said. That includes $3.4 billion in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China as of Oct. 17, she said. The first tranche of Section 301 tariffs took effect on July 6 (see 1807050033); the second list took effect on Aug. 23 (see 1808070046); and the third, on Sept. 24 (see 1809240015). CBP also has assessed about $2.6 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $738 million under tariffs on aluminum as of Oct. 16, the spokeswoman said. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines and solar cells (see 1801230052) account for $416 million in assessed tariffs as of Oct. 16, she said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 13-16 in case they were missed.
Tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada and the U.S. are "entirely inconsistent with the overall goals" of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a group of more than 35 trade groups told the U.S. trade representative in a letter sent Nov 19., and should be lifted so that the new NAFTA deal can be ratified. The letter, led by the National Foreign Trade Council, said that Congress may have a more difficult time ratifying the trade deal, given how many members have complained that tariffs are not needed on our neighbors. And, while the letter does not request a global lifting of the steel and aluminum tariffs, it says that the quotas and tariffs "have caused significant harm" to American manufacturers, and that the increased costs endanger jobs across many sectors, far more than those in the mills and smelters protected by the tariffs.