Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. largely agrees with President Donald Trump that the U.S. has been on the losing end of most trade agreements, Manchin said while speaking at an event on trade May 23 at the Heritage Foundation. Manchin said he's happy with the trade relationships the U.S. has with Canada and Europe, but, "other than that, we're very skeptical." He said he likes where adviser Peter Navarro is going and how U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, approaches trade, but he doesn't like other views in the administration. "I think [Trump] has had a lot of infighting, which is to be expected, but it's the undecidedness right now that is causing a lot of inaction."
The Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum will continue to apply to such goods from China despite a hold on new tariffs on other products from China while trade talks continue (see 1805200002), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on May 22. "As it relates to China, the steel and aluminum tariffs will remain in force," Mnuchin said during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services. "Those were not part of discussions," which were focused on the proposed Section 301 tariffs, he said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 14-18 in case they were missed.
CBP provided further details on how importers of goods excluded from Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum can file entries and receive refunds, in a May 21 CSMS message. "Importers and filers importing products granted an exclusion should submit the product exclusion number based on the last six digits of the product exclusion docket number," CBP said. Filers should not "submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 232 duties when the product exclusion number is submitted," the agency said.
Now that it is seemingly too late for Congress to ratify a new NAFTA in December (see 1805110025), predictions about what happens next vary widely. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said on CNBC that the administration could pursue a "skinny NAFTA," and a Republican senator suggested that would be the best course of action, though a full rewrite is still preferred, Mnuchin said.
The European Union submitted to the World Trade Organization on May 18 the list of products it will impose 25 percent tariffs on if the U.S. does not spare it from steel and aluminum tariffs next month. The initial list, which runs to 181 items, is designed to counteract the tariffs on almost $7.2 billion worth of steel and aluminum that will be subject to duties from the United States under Section 232. Only 1.2 billion of that is aluminum. The EU could begin collecting tariffs on these items as soon as June 20. The list includes peanut butter, orange juice, cigarettes, steel, pipes, motorcycles and yachts.
China announced it will no longer collect 178.6 percent cash deposits on U.S. sorghum, because the antidumping case is not in the public interest. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on May 18 that continuing the duties would drive inflation for consumers. Sorghum is mostly fed to livestock in China, as corn prices rise. The deposits are being returned, Bloomberg reported. China imported about $957 million of U.S. sorghum in 2017 and purchases were down 15 percent in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, Bloomberg reported, citing Customs data. Farmers had used the grain in animal feed in place of domestic corn, which climbed 20 percent last year.
The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved an amendment on May 17 to its fiscal year 2019 Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill that would bar the Department of Commerce from renegotiating its recent set of sanctions against Chinese telecom giant ZTE. The amendment, offered by Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., follows days of Capitol Hill criticism of President Donald Trump for a recent tweet saying the administration is working with the Chinese government to keep ZTE in business (see 1805140046).
CBP will make changes to ACE Entry Summary "that will allow CBP to validate tariff rate adjustments and exclusions in support of Section 232 measures," the agency said in a CSMS message. The update will come on June 1, the date most of the country-wide exemptions to the tariffs on steel and aluminum are scheduled to end (see 1805040046).
Trade groups representing the apparel, steel, grain and chemical industries largely agree that China is flouting World Trade Organization rules for trade, but there remains some debate over whether the use of tariffs is necessary. "I think somehow imagining that China after 17 years of noncompliance with WTO rules will somehow reverse and do it is the definition of insanity," said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which represents U.S. steelworkers. "We're sitting on an economy where corporations are getting $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, we have pretty robust economy growth, so in a lot of ways there's never been a better way to fight a trade war and this is a very targeted war," Paul said, speaking as a panelist at a May 17 Washington International Trade Association event.