Rep. Eric “Rick” Crawford, R-Ark., introduced a bill Sept. 30 that would require the president to form a task force to identify trade barriers to U.S. agricultural exports and develop and implement a strategy to enforce trade agreements against those barriers.
Sara Schuman, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's former senior trade representative for China, has joined Beacon Global Strategies to lead its new international trade practice. Schuman, who left government in 2023, was responsible for trade negotiations with China and coordinating "economic security initiatives" with allies, the firm said.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., introduced a bill last week to direct the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to prioritize convincing Canada and Mexico to institute a foreign investment review board similar to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking views on how the USMCA is working, as the three participating countries begin a joint review of the pact in July 2026.
After two days of talks between U.S. and Chinese officials, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that they and Chinese counterpart Vice Premier He Lifeng have a "framework" for a deal for China's Byte Dance to divest TikTok to U.S. buyers, and that deal will be completed on Sept. 19 as Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump talk about the divestiture.
President Donald Trump posted over the weekend that he's prepared to levy new sanctions against Moscow if U.S. allies stop purchasing Russian oil and potentially put in place other sanctions against the country.
The Trump administration is looking to reduce barriers to U.S. exports of agricultural and energy products as part of its ongoing trade negotiations with India (see 2509100062), said Sergio Gor, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to India.
Former U.S. trade representative Michael Froman, at an event hosted by the centrist think tank Brookings Institution, said deciding how to apply export controls is "really difficult," and quite technical, as technologies evolve.
The export licensing pauses and delays since the Trump administration took over in January are in conflict with the president’s stated goal of boosting American exports and opening new markets for U.S. companies, said Ron Kirk, a former U.S. trade representative.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters in Stockholm, Sweden, that the Chinese delegation spoke too early when they said the two sides agreed to another 90 days at current tariff levels, because the president is the one to decide. However, in a later interview with CNBC, Bessent said the meetings had been "highly satisfactory."