The European Commission has proposed 25% retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. goods in response to the tariffs on steel and aluminum President Donald Trump imposed last month (see 2503120042), according to a document seen by Reuters, the news service reported April 7.
A senior Chinese Commerce Ministry trade official met with representatives from more than 20 U.S. companies in Bejing on April 6 to discuss the Trump administration's "abuse of tariffs" and Beijing's retaliatory measures (see 2504040024), according to an unofficial translation of the ministry's readout of the meeting. Ling Ji, China's vice commerce minister, said he hopes American companies will "take practical actions" and "jointly maintain the stability of the global production and supply chain." He also said Beijing is committed to multilateralism. The U.S. tariffs have "seriously damaged the rules-based multilateral trading system and seriously infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of all countries," the official said. The meeting featured officials from Tesla, GE Healthcare, Medtronic and others, China said.
The Census Bureau this week added and removed Harmonized Tariff Schedule/Schedule B Classifications that require reporting in the Automated Export System for shipments of used vehicles. The agency added HTS/Schedule B number 8432.80.0010, which includes certain agricultural equipment listed as "tow behind spreaders, aerators, and de-thatchers," and it removed 8708.30.0050, which includes certain "other vehicles."
China retaliated against President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs with duties of 34% on all U.S. goods, along with new export restrictions on U.S. companies and rare earth metals.
A recent rise in tariffs, export controls and other trade actions will lead to rising prices in semiconductor supply chains, said Sree Ramaswamy, former senior adviser to former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Multiple countries this week objected to President Donald Trump’s April 2 announcement of new reciprocal tariffs against trading partners (see 2504020072), saying they either plan to retaliate or are assessing how to respond.
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced a bill April 1 to sanction Russia and its supporters if Moscow refuses to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine in good faith or undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty after a peace deal is reached.
Four Democratic lawmakers said this week that the Bureau of Industry and Security’s plans to pull back from traditional export control dialogues with allies, including the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, will reduce international collaboration and make it harder to keep sensitive technology out of the hands of China.
The U.S. Trade Representative has published its annual trade estimate, almost 400 pages of tariff and non-tariff barriers in countries around the world. The report noted, "The estimates included in this report constitute an attempt to quantitatively assess the potential effect of removing certain foreign trade barriers to particular U.S. exports. However, the estimates cannot be used to determine the total effect on U.S. exports, either to the country in which a barrier has been identified, or to the world in general. In other words, the estimates contained in this report cannot be aggregated in order to derive a total estimate of gain in U.S. exports to a given country or the world."
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent semiconductor-related export controls could place large burdens not only on exporters but also on BIS enforcement, which will face a host of challenges trying to track whether certain countries have filled their allocated chip quotas, researchers said.