The Trump Transition

U.S. potato growers were left deflated this week after a visit by President Trump to Japan to meet with the country’s new prime minister concluded without any announcement about long-sought market access for potatoes, though a top industry representative says it remains unclear whether the administration’s recent trade arrangement with Japan is “entirely closed.” The U.S. potato industry and their backers have been pushing the administration to expand the deal, announced in July, to include fresh table stock potatoes –and...

A Supreme Court ruling against President Trump’s “emergency” tariffs would upend the administration’s foreign policy agenda and potentially scuttle trade deals with an array of countries based on a “cramped” interpretation of the underlying law, the Justice Department argues in its final written brief ahead of next week’s oral argument. “Plaintiffs seek a ruling from this Court that would effectively disarm the President in the highly competitive arena of international trade, stymie negotiations that reflect the United States’ ‘top foreign...

The deal struck this week by President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping turns back the clock on U.S.-China relations a mere matter of months, according to China analysts who view the unreleased and unsigned pact as a fragile one that could quickly unravel. The U.S. agreed to remove a series of trade restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, including port fees for Chinese ships docking at U.S. ports that took effect in October; an export control rule published in...

House Republicans must show “courage” and vote on resolutions to end President Trump’s emergency declarations used to justify sweeping tariffs, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said this week, arguing that measures passed by the Senate to nullify those levies can help build momentum for future votes against the administration’s trade policies. Paul, a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s tariff regime, last month co-sponsored Senate resolutions to repeal emergency declarations underpinning tariffs on Brazil and on Canada , as well as...

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative plans to continue a recently announced probe into China's commitments under a phase-one trade deal inked during the first Trump administration, USTR Jamieson Greer said Thursday, arguing that the investigation remained critical following a de-escalation in trade tensions. Greer confirmed the investigation, launched last week under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, would proceed during an interview with Fox Business , assuring host Larry Kudlow that he was “correct to assume”...

The Senate on Thursday narrowly adopted a resolution to terminate President Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs on most U.S. trading partners by ending the national emergency he declared in April over U.S. goods trade deficits -- the third time the chamber has voted for a tariff repeal measure this week. Senators voted 51-47 to revoke the emergency declaration for trade deficits, which Trump has used as the basis for a long list of tariffs on specific countries -- and bilateral deals where...

House Ways & Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) and other Republican members of the panel are urging the Trump administration to reconsider a plan to boost U.S. imports of Argentine beef, adding to a growing chorus of objections by lawmakers. Smith, joined by Ways & Means trade subcommittee Chair Adrian Smith (R-NE) and 12 other members of the panel, expressed concern about the plan in an Oct. 29 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Agriculture Secretary Brooke...

Lawmakers are looking for legislative vehicles to advance the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-ID) said on Wednesday, while acknowledging that prospects are limited. Crapo and several Democratic committee members spoke with Inside U.S. Trade about the status of efforts to renew AGOA, which lapsed at the end of September, outside of a committee hearing to consider several administration nominees including two of the president’s picks to serve as deputy...

The Senate on Wednesday voted 50-46 to end the national emergency President Trump declared in February to impose tariffs on Canada, the second time it has done so in a largely symbolic rebuke of the president’s tariffs. Republican senators Susan Collins (ME), Mitch McConnell (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Rand Paul KY) joined Democrats to support the resolution, which would have to be passed by the House and signed by the president – neither of which is likely – to...