SanMar Corp., which imports T-shirts, sweatshirts and polo shirts that are used for fun runs, corporate logos and the like, hasn't been hit with Section 301 tariffs yet, but its executives are anxiously watching trade policy. Melissa Nelson, general counsel for SanMar, said she used to be able to stay away from Washington, D.C., but with the surge of tariffs in the last year, that's no longer true. Even Section 232 tariffs, which you would not think would affect an apparel importer, are increasing costs for them. Nelson explained that SanMar is buying clothes racks for a Jacksonville, Florida, warehouse; she said they're worried about the cost.
The European Commission issued a progress report dated Jan. 30 on the ongoing trade talks with the U.S. to provide "a detailed overview on the state of play," the EC said in a news release. Among other things, the report notes that any new Section 232 measures on EU autos "would effectively block further progress on key elements." Such restrictions "on trade of automobile products would in any event lead to the suspension of negotiations in industrial tariffs as well as to rebalancing measures as in the area of steel and aluminium," it said. While most items on the report don't require specific negotiating objectives from the EC, the talks around industrial tariffs did require negotiating directives (see 1901180022).
Bipartisan bills were introduced in the House and Senate to give Congress a veto over potential Section 232 tariffs on autos and auto parts and the ability to rescind the tariffs and quotas on steel and aluminum. The push in the Senate is led by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who also tried to move a similar bill last year, as well as Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 22-25 in case they were missed.
The perspectives from Congress, Canada and Mexico -- and a former acting U.S. trade representative -- diverge wildly on how much can be changed in the new NAFTA to garner votes for approval and how difficult it will be to get it passed in 2019. Miriam Sapiro, who was acting USTR and is now with SVC Public Affairs, used the term “lovely miracle” to describe how she’d feel if it passed this year. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, said it's clear that the metals tariffs on Canada and Mexico -- without quotas -- have to have a date certain to come off before Congress members are really about to start “to count the noses.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and a half-dozen Republican colleagues told President Donald Trump that the decline in the stock market since October is due partly to higher tariffs, and they used his own words against him to argue that steel and aluminum tariffs should be lifted on Canada and Mexico. Their letter, sent Jan. 28, starts by quoting a Trump tweet from March 2018 that said steel and aluminum tariffs in North America "will only come off if a new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed." They noted that he signed the new NAFTA at the end of November, but that the tariffs haven't been lifted.
Leaders of auto, aluminum and farm interest groups are all pushing for the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs to be lifted on Canada and Mexico, as the administration said would happen once NAFTA was renegotiated. But none of the groups will make their support for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement contingent on the tariffs being lifted.
After the March 1 deadline, President Donald Trump could declare victory in the trade war, or his administration could decide the Chinese have not offered substantial changes in response to America's complaints about industrial policies and discrimination against U.S. firms. "It probably depends on what he's seen on Fox News this morning," Center for Strategic and International Studies' William Reinsch said at a CSIS program on Asia in 2019 on Jan. 23. Still, he said, Trump has a pattern of "lots of bluster, lots of threats, occasional use of a threat, and then at the end of the day, he tends to settle for much less than he asked for."
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 14-20:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 14-18 in case they were missed.