House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Mo., along with 17 Republicans on the committee, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., have introduced a Miscellaneous Tariff Bill to remove $1.3 million a day in tariffs on items not available from domestic producers.
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
The administration will hike tariffs this year on steel and aluminum, solar cells (including in modules), ship to shore cranes, electric vehicles, lithium-ion EV batteries, battery parts, some critical minerals, certain respirators and face masks, syringes and needles, and will hike tariffs on other Chinese imports next year and in 2026. A White House fact sheet on the tariffs doesn't include more specific dates.
Section 301 China tariff changes outlined by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative May 14 will take effect approximately 90 days after a request for comments that will be issued next week. That includes a 100% tariff on Chinese-origin electric vehicles, as well as the jump to 25% Section 301 tariffs on steel and aluminum products, ship to shore cranes, lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries, battery parts for non-lithium-ion batteries, "some critical minerals" and face masks, and a bump to 50% tariffs on solar cells, syringes and needles, the White House said in a fact sheet.
Groups of law enforcement and advocates for opiate addicts, along with the Coalition for a Prosperous America, told the House Ways and Means Committee that while they appreciate its action to restrict de minimis for articles subject to Section 301 tariffs, they hope members develop a "comprehensive solution" to the de minimis crisis.
Customs lawyer John Foote, speaking at the Washington International Trade Association during a panel on import bans, investments and export controls, questioned whether the Biden administration is ready to coordinate forced labor import bans with allies, given how the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is still in its infancy.
Bloomberg reported that the White House will release the Section 301 tariffs review next week, with higher tariffs on electric vehicles, batteries and solar cells. The report said it's unclear if there will be any tariff reductions, "though large-scale reductions aren’t expected."
Trade groups, companies and a union that represent the aluminum and steel sectors told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that they need more protection from import competition, by expansion of the scope of Section 232 tariffs, and by re-negotiation of the rules of origin in both trade agreements and the Section 232 exclusion for Canada and Mexico.
Former Sen. Chris Dodd, special presidential adviser for the Americas, said that the administration welcomes the Americas Act (see 2403060033), a bill that proposes setting country-by-country de minimis levels, and instructs the administration to reconsider U.S. tariffs "with the focus on the principle of reciprocity" for most favored nation rates and to open a dialogue with Mexico and Canada on allowing Costa Rica and Uruguay to join USMCA. It also would exclude Chinese and Russian shippers from de minimis eligibility, allow Ecuador and Uruguay to use Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act tariff benefits for certain goods, "with the goal of an eventual full-scale FTA with Uruguay and Ecuador," and asks the administration to make it so goods across Western hemisphere free trade agreements could cumulate among those agreements -- so Costa Rican content could be added to Colombian and Mexican content, for instance.
Sens. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., would like to get a removal of the tariff on titanium sponge attached to the must-pass Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill. There is a 15% tariff on titanium sponge. Timet, a Nevada company, once tried to get quotas applied to titanium sponge imports through a Section 232 action (see 2002280047) and also had a failed trade remedy case; it no longer makes titanium sponge.
The subcommittee that covers intellectual property issues under the House Judiciary Committee questioned how Congress should address the escalating volume of de minimis packages -- and the opportunities those shipments provide for sending counterfeits and goods made with forced labor, but the CBP witness responsible for de minimis and IP declined to back any of the ideas that were bandied about.