USTR

The U.S. on Aug. 1 will impose 50 percent tariffs on Brazil due in part to the government’s treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, President Trump said on Wednesday. He also ordered a probe of Brazil's digital trade policies under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. “I knew and dealt with former President Jair Bolsonaro, and respected him greatly, as did most other Leaders of Countries,” Trump wrote in a letter to Brazil’s president posted on his social...

A long list of agriculture industry groups is asking President Trump to “expeditiously” name a chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, warning that leaving the position vacant could result in worse terms for their sectors in the litany of trade deals the administration hopes to sign in coming weeks or months. “We write today respectfully urging you to expeditiously nominate a Chief Agricultural Negotiator.… This position is critical to prioritize the needs of American agriculture...

The U.S. is developing a “template” for trade with Sub-Saharan African countries, prompting several to ask the Trump administration to extend a pause on steep new tariffs, according to the South African government. In a July 1 readout of recent talks with U.S. officials in Angola, South Africa’s Trade, Industry and Competition ministry said “one of the key issues that emerged … is that the U.S. is developing a trade-matters template which will be the basis for its engagements with...

Ahead of next week’s deadline for countries to negotiate trade deals and avoid steep new tariffs, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden is arguing that any resulting deals must be submitted to Congress for approval to be binding. In a July 2 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Wyden noted his “longstanding position” that “binding international trade agreements must be approved by Congress” and claimed he has bipartisan history on his side. President Trump in April unveiled a...

Canada will not begin collecting a digital services tax on Monday in hopes of striking a trade deal with the U.S., Ottawa said on Sunday night, saying President Trump had agreed to restart negotiations he declared dead on Friday. The U.S. has long fought digital services taxes, claiming they are discriminatory against U.S. companies. Trump on Friday said he would impose new tariffs on goods from Canada within seven days because of Ottawa’s imminent tax. According to a statement from...

The second-ranked Republican on the House Ways & Means Committee is urging U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to treat new carbon-emission rules for shipping vessels from the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization as a “continuation” of Chinese shipbuilding practices that the Trump administration penalized as anti-competitive earlier this year. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), who serves as vice chair of Ways & Means and sits on its trade committee, wrote to Greer on June 26 to argue that IMO’s recent vote...

The Japanese government isn't likely to rush to seal a deal on tariffs ahead of a major election in July, former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Michael Beeman tells Inside U.S. Trade . Beeman was AUSTR for Japan, Korea and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation from 2017 to 2023, when he left the agency to become a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. During an interview last week, Beeman said the Japanese government was “not in a rush to secure...