The 118th Congress (2023-2024) is easily the best Congress we’ve had in the 21st century when it comes to tariff policy. U.S. Senators in particular are introducing new tariff bills for different products and industries.
The proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel has understandably generated controversy and concern. At a gut-level, it feels wrong to many Americans.
China recently became the world’s largest car exporter, and by all accounts their global market share will keep expanding. One silver lining, at least, is that more and more leaders are figuring out that absent tariff increases, our nation will become a slave to foreign nations that do prioritize production.
For the last five years, a cabal of attorneys and trade compliance professionals have been plotting to destroy what’s left of U.S. customs law. Their primary goal? Cementing the legal underpinnings of the de minimis loophole and getting ahead of the backlash. This is necessary for them, because the exponential growth of de minimis shipments…
Evidence continues to pour in that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can’t do its job against the daily tidal wave of small packages sent from abroad. CBP has warned for years that “the increase in small packages is permitting bad actors to operate with relative impunity.” However advocates for the lawlessness, namely express shippers…
Last week, President Biden’s U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Tai, took a shellacking from U.S. Senators who oversee her office. The first was from her fellow Democrat, U.S. Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR), who issued a statement saying he “blasted” her office. The next day, Senator Wyden was followed by nine of thirteen Senate Finance…
As Congress considers renewal of the program, the marketing has switched to “facilitating supply chain shifts out of China”. This is narrative creation completely untethered to reality.
Background De minimis is a regulatory loophole. It was morphed from a tiny customs administrative exception into a backdoor superhighway through our ports. The regulatory changes to de minimis enabled overseas vendors around the world to ship directly to American citizens, currently to the tune of two million per day. And they do this without…
On June 1, 2023, the United States and Taiwan signed “the first agreement under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade.” “Initiative”? “21st Century Trade”? Sleepy terms that convey a classic “nothing-burger”. But that’s never been the case with trade agreements. This agreement, ostensibly for Taiwan, sets out expectations for how the U.S. and Taiwan…
On Friday, March 31, the U.S. Treasury launched their latest torpedo targeting the Inflation Reduction Act’s domestic manufacturing policies. This time, it’s over what countries have a “free trade agreement” with the United States. This is actually universally understood fact: there are twenty countries. But to grow the list beyond the twenty, so as to…
