Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said during a press conference in Brussels that there's a variety of opinions in the administration about what to do on tariffs, and officials haven't been able to agree on how to proceed. "I've said previously that I think that some of the tariffs that were imposed by President Trump in retaliation for China's unfair trade practices, some of them, to me, seem as though they impose more harm on consumers and businesses and aren't very strategic in the sense of addressing real issues we have with China, whether it concerns supply chain vulnerabilities, national security issues, or other unfair trade practices," she said.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked Mexico to review whether workers at the Panasonic Automotive Systems de Mexico facility in Reynosa are being denied the rights of free association and collective bargaining. By doing so, USTR is endorsing an April 18 request from Rethink Trade and a Mexican union that was, at the time, trying to win a union vote at the factory (see 2204190031). The two groups' complaint said that Panasonic fired more than 60 workers who supported the independent union, and that the captive union, Confederación de Trabajadores de México (CTM), was offering bribes to workers to get their votes. They also said that Panasonic signed a contract with CTM before the vote, and started withholding union dues almost a month before the vote.

The Federal Maritime Commission should require all ocean carriers and marine terminals to hire dedicated compliance officers, establish a clearer process for returning containers and launch a new investigation into carrier charges assessed through tariffs, Commissioner Rebecca Dye said. Dye, delivering a new set of recommendations during a May 18 FMC meeting, also said the commission should create a carrier-focused advisory committee and do more to support U.S. agricultural exports.

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.

To address infant formula shortages caused by the closure of a major U.S. plant in February, FDA issued a guidance document May 16 detailing a new policy of enforcement discretion that will allow some imports of infant formula that don’t meet all regulatory requirements. The policy will remain in effect until Nov. 14, unless extended.

Imported house wrap, used during construction to protect the properties from water infiltration, should be properly classified as “Woven fabrics of synthetic filament yarn...” under the duty-free heading 5407 rather than as "Textile fabrics impregnated, coated, covered or laminated with plastics" under heading 5903, CBP said in a March 8 ruling.

FDA soon will announce measures designed to increase imports of infant formula, in an effort to address infant formula shortages resulting from the closure of a major U.S. production plant in February, the White House said in a fact sheet May 12.

While the Biden administration faces very little legal constraint to continuing the Section 301 tariffs on the vast majority of Chinese imports, trade experts at the Wiley firm said that the administration is under pressure for a variety of reasons to make a decision on whether they are going to change their approach to the tariffs. So far, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has reinstated fewer than 500 exclusions, either due to the COVID-19 pandemic or to a limited review, and has not offered to renew the bulk of the 2,129 exclusions that were granted during the previous administration.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee who spoke at the first meeting of that conference committee to find a compromise China competition package sounded more combative than cooperative.

The Biden administration's approach to changing Section 301 tariffs is "a work in progress," said Sarah Bianchi, a deputy U.S. trade representative, while at a May 11 National Council of Textile Organizations conference. Her comments, which avoided directly answering a question of whether the administration position is that tariffs on apparel are not strategic, came a day after President Joe Biden told reporters that administration officials are discussing whether any Section 301 tariffs should be lowered or removed, "and no decision has been made on it."