U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the effort to get China to change its industrial policy and intellectual property practices will take years, but added that "that's not to say what we're doing now will be in place for years." Lighthizer was testifying July 26 to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the administration's trade policy, and was pressed again and again on how long tariffs will continue to increase costs on American businesses, and how long retaliatory tariffs will damage their ability to export.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments by Sept. 10 on the Section 232 investigation into the national security effects of uranium imports (see 1807180029), BIS said in a notice. The agency seeks input on the health of the domestic uranium industry, quantities of uranium imports and industry growth needed to meet national security requirements, it said. BIS will publish another notice if a public hearing is planned, it said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a list of frequently asked questions about product exclusions from the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. Among the answered questions are how to seek a different decision if a company disagrees with a denial. If the denial is the result of an inaccurate Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification, the company should contact CBP and then resubmit the request with the correct classification. "If the denial is based on an objection, the requester may file a new exclusion request and include information documenting the reason why the new request should be granted notwithstanding the prior objection(s)," BIS said. "This information could include, for example, the documentation of the inability or refusal of the objector(s) to provide the product." The lack of denial appeal procedure is among some complaints about the exclusion process (see 1807230062).
Two Southern states senators introduced their bill on Section 232 tariffs while the president was talking to the European Union about threatened auto tariffs. The Automotive Jobs Act of 2018 requires the International Trade Commission "to conduct a comprehensive study of the well-being, health, and vitality of the United States automotive industry before tariffs could be applied." The bill is co-sponsored by Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala. Both have significant auto plants in their states.
The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Trade is trying to force the administration to disclose information about its decision-making process on tariffs. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., would have to get the House Speaker to bring the resolution up for a vote, in addition to securing a majority vote. The resolution asks for documents, spreadsheets and slide presentations that explain why the president chose a global 25 percent tariff on steel after the Commerce Department gave a global 24 percent tariff as one option, and why he made the aluminum tariff 10 percent, rather than 7.7 percent, as laid out by Commerce. It also asks for information on how the administration intends to help exporters hurt in the trade war, and its strategy on resolving the problems laid out in the Section 301 report, either through multilateral action or through negotiations with China.
After four months, only 266 product exclusion requests have been granted, 421 were denied, and more than 26,000 are yet to be decided, House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., said at a hearing on the Section 232 exclusion process. He called for numerous changes to the process in his opening statement.
President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will "resolve the steel and aluminum issues" with the European Union after the EU agreed to buy more soybeans and liquefied natural gas, and to enter negotiations to drop non-auto industrial tariffs to zero. The EU's retaliatory tariffs will also be "resolved," said Trump.
The Section 232 steel and aluminum product exclusion process is flat-out broken, according to House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and he said at least four aspects of the Commerce Department approach need to change. Brady, who was speaking to reporters at the Capitol on July 23, said the length of the exclusion -- now a year from the time it's granted -- should be longer. He said there should be a way to appeal a denial. If a product is excluded for one company, it should be excluded for all importers of the same product. And, he said, "we think you ought to grandfather major existing projects," such as pipelines under construction.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 16-20 in case they were missed.
More than 20 businesses and trade groups -- the first set of more than 80 scheduled to testify -- told the Section 301 investigation panel on July 24 that including their imports on the tariff list of $16 billion in Chinese products will lead to higher consumer prices, lower profits, abandoned expansion plans or worse. For Jane Hardy, CEO of Brinly-Hardy Company in Kentucky, having Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8432.4200, fertilizer spreaders, added to the list is an existential threat. With the tariff on steel, her family-owned company, founded in 1839, began paying 25 percent to 37 percent more for the metal, even though she'd always bought domestic steel. Then, with the first tranche of Section 301, Chinese wheels and hardware that her Indiana factory uses as it builds equipment were taxed at 25 percent.