The National Council of Textile Organizations, the Narrow Fabrics Institute and the U.S. Industrial Fabrics Institute told the administration in response comments that if 7.5% Section 301 tariffs on apparel are lifted, it could risk "reversing once-in-a-lifetime nearshoring trends."

The Alliance for American Manufacturing told the administration that it's "absurd" to blame Section 301 tariffs for inflation, given they started years before inflation began to rise. "U.S. consumers would see little to no benefit from tariff roll backs and any erosion of tariffs will benefit China’s Communist Party and China’s manufacturing sector, which would make up the difference by increasing its prices," the group wrote. It said that all tariffs should remain. "AAM strongly supports allowing USTR to continue its fact-based exclusion process without congressional mandates or any other political interference that predetermines an outcome. While an accessible and transparent exclusion process is essential for trade enforcement actions, unwarranted tariff relief may very well signal the demise of a U.S. company that is seeking to establish a market foothold or one that has reinvented itself to fill gaps in our domestic supply chains," it wrote.

The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated June 14 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

A new bill directs the administration to open a Section 301 investigation "to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of the People's Republic of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property, or innovation with respect to rare earth metal mining, separation, metallization, alloying, or magnet manufacturing, or related processes, are acts, policies, and practices" are damaging enough to the U.S. economy that they necessitate "trade enforcement actions to deter the Government of the People's Republic of China from further interference in the rare earth metals market."

The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:

Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

While several key players portrayed negotiations as active on the trade title, House Ways and Means ranking member Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said: "We've had virtually no discussions on the trade provisions in the China conference. We're eager to get talking about it. The trade provisions are not going to be easy. I do think there's common ground, but the clock's ticking and we have a lot of work to do, and the sooner we get to it, the better."

The National Retail Federation is mounting an ad campaign urging the White House to scrap the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports “to lower costs for businesses and consumers who are being severely impacted by inflation,” said the association Wednesday. The campaign, using broadcast, digital and out-of-home advertising, includes a 30-second TV spot called “Lower Inflation Now by Repealing Tariffs,” it said. Retailers encourage the White House “to work with our trading partners, particularly China, to roll back tariffs that contribute to the high cost of goods and services and provide much-needed relief for American consumers,” said NRF CEO Matthew Shay said. “Tariffs are among the many costs out of retailers’ control that drive up prices paid by consumers. But unlike other costs, the administration can eliminate tariffs with the stroke of a pen.” Customs and Border Protection collected nearly $136.5 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods since the first of four rounds of duties took effect in July 2018.

Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., who's been a defender of trade liberalization, introduced a bill that requires the Treasury Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the International Trade Commission to assess whether the Section 301 tariffs, Section 232 tariffs, safeguard tariffs and the expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program have contributed to inflation.