The White House has renominated Miller Baker and Timothy Reif (see 1901070044) to be judges on the Court of International Trade. Their nominations were not voted on by the Senate during the last Congress and were returned to the White House (see 1811270025).
The White House resubmitted the nomination of Jeffrey Nadaner for assistant secretary of Commerce, in charge of export enforcement. Nadaner was a deputy assistant secretary of Defense during the George W. Bush administration. Nadaner was first nominated in February 2018, but his nomination was not voted on during the last Congress, so it had to be resubmitted. Also resubmitted was the nomination of Randolph Stayin for the U.S. International Trade Commission. If his nomination is confirmed in the Senate, he would replace Meredith Broadbent, whose term has expired. He was first nominated in September 2017. He would serve a term that expires June 16, 2026.
The White House has renominated Amy Karpel to join the U.S. International Trade Commission, since her initial nomination, in February 2018, did not receive a vote in the Senate in the last Congress. Karpel is a former chief counsel for negotiations, legislation and administrative law in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The commissioner she would replace left in 2017. She would serve the remainder of the term expiring June 16, 2020.
President Donald Trump told reporters that China's economy is suffering because of the U.S. tariffs on its exports to this country and that the U.S. economy is "doing better than any country anywhere in the world." He saidJan. 14 that "China wants to negotiate. ... I have a great relationship with [China's] President Xi [Jinping]. I think that we are going to be able to do a deal with China. I can tell you we are getting things, that before I became president you would've had no chance of getting. They would have laughed in your president’s face."
Mid-level talks in China that are attempting to resolve the trade conflict with the U.S. continued past the original two-day schedule, according to reports from media outlets with reporters in China. President Donald Trump, just after 8 a.m. on Jan. 8, tweeted, "Talks with China are going very well!" The editor in chief of a Chinese newspaper tweeted that he thinks the fact that they continued for a third day "sends a signal: The two sides are in serious talks and working hard to solve the disagreements between them."
Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Jan. 3 on CNN that Apple's warning of slowed earnings growth due to falling sales in China is just the beginning. "I think that there are a heck of a lot of U.S. companies that have a lot of sales in China that are basically going to be watching their earnings be downgraded next year until we get a deal with China," he said. "If we have a successful negotiation with China, then Apple's sales and everybody else's sales will recover." Hassett said the economic fallout in China "puts a lot of pressure on China to make a deal."
President Donald Trump celebrated the revenue being collected as a result of new tariffs, while noting progress in trade talks, in a Jan. 3 tweet. "The United States Treasury has taken in MANY billions of dollars from the Tariffs we are charging China and other countries that have not treated us fairly," he said. "In the meantime we are doing well in various Trade Negotiations currently going on. At some point this had to be done!"
President Donald Trump said "big progress" is being made with China, in a tweet over the holiday weekend. "Just had a long and very good call with President Xi of China," he wrote. "Deal is moving along very well. If made, it will be very comprehensive, covering all subjects, areas and points of dispute."
President Donald Trump threatened again to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border. Last time, it was because he was angered that Central Americans were crossing through Mexico to come to the U.S. This time, it is because Democrats in the Senate are not interested in offering the $5 billion in wall construction funding he is seeking for the current fiscal year. "We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with," he tweeted Dec. 28, continuing, "The United States [loses] soooo much money on Trade with Mexico under NAFTA, over 75 Billion Dollars a year (not including Drug Money which would be many times that amount), that I would consider closing the Southern Border a 'profit making operation.' We build a Wall or..... .....Close the Southern Border. Bring our car industry back into the United States where it belongs. Go back to pre-NAFTA, before so many of our companies and jobs were so foolishly sent to Mexico."
President Donald Trump issued a presidential proclamation Dec. 21 making changes to the tariff schedule that are set to be implemented Jan. 1. Among other changes, the proclamation formally ends African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits for Mauritania (see 1811050019), and amends the tariff schedule to clarify duty-free treatment for certain goods of Nepal under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. Other technical and conforming changes are also being made related to the tariff treatment of guayaberas from Panama, the tariff-rate quota on tobacco products, implementation of Section 301 tariffs on China and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. The International Trade Commission will now amend the tariff schedule to implement the changes, though the agency is operating in a limited capacity due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.