The Bureau of Industry and Security posted the requests it has received for new products to be included as derivatives subject to Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products. The release of the requests starts a two-week comment period for the potential inclusions, with comments on each due June 4.
More than 40 companies and trade groups, from businesses with 26 employees to one with 32,000, are asking that 25% Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum be applied to hundreds of "derivative" products made by foreign competitors.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a pro-Trump trade group, noted in its newsletter that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer squeezed in an appearance at their annual conference between returning from talks with China in Switzerland and flying to Asia for more negotiations.
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The Commerce Department estimates that automakers will be able to save about $10 billion annually in tariffs on USMCA-qualifying cars, trucks and minivans imported from Canada or Mexico by submitting documentation to the International Trade Commission about the U.S. content in those vehicles. However, that estimate assumes that 25% tariffs on imported cars do not change the buying patterns of U.S. consumers, nor the production choices of automakers.
Five senators, both Republicans and Democrats, asked Jamieson Greer, then the U.S. trade representative nominee, to advocate for a formal exclusion process to tariffs, as was done for the Section 301 tariffs in Trump's first term. These written exchanges were recently posted at the Senate Finance Committee website, long after Greer's confirmation vote.
Section 232 investigations are "moving much, much quicker" in the second Trump administration, trade lawyer Daniel Cannistra said May 14 on a podcast.
The EU is prepared to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. aircraft and bourbon to avoid "just being a market for U.S. products," an EU trade official said on May 15.
Trade groups representing three strong exporting sectors -- soybeans, semiconductors and medical devices -- and an expert in critical minerals trade all told the Senate Finance Committee that higher tariffs on all countries and products, and constantly changing tariff policy, aren't good for American competitiveness.
CBP released a notice outlining refund procedures to implement President Donald Trump’s April 29 executive order on tariff stacking. The notice says that, beginning May 16, importers may request refunds on entries on or after March 4 by way of a post-summary correction for unliquidated entries or a protest for entries that have been liquidated but where the protest period hasn’t expired.