China said it will continue to suspend retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., as well as its addition of dozens of U.S. companies to the country’s unreliable entity list, after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would be delaying reciprocal tariffs against Beijing for 90 days.
Brazil requested dispute consultations with the U.S. at the World Trade Organization on Aug. 11 regarding the 50% tariffs that President Donald Trump recently imposed on Brazilian goods. Brazil said the measures are inconsistent with U.S. obligations under Articles I and II of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and Articles 23.1 and 23.2 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU).
Beijing pushed back on the notion that the U.S. is considering secondary tariffs against China for purchasing Russian oil, saying it has a right to buy Russian energy.
An active-duty service member of the U.S. Army was charged with trying to send national defense information to a foreign adversary and trying to export controlled technical data, DOJ announced Aug. 6. Taylor Lee, stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, allegedly tried to send information on the M1A2 Abrams tank, an "armored fighting vehicle used by the U.S. military" and combat operations to the Russian military.
The head of a tech policy nonprofit urged the leaders of three congressional committees Aug. 7 to hold a hearing to examine the “large-scale smuggling” of advanced American AI chips into China in violation of U.S. export controls.
The Trump administration has failed to use sanctions and export controls to help end Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Democratic staffs of the Senate Banking and Foreign Relations committees said in a report released this week.
The EU on Aug. 5 published a document to officially suspend the retaliatory tariffs it was set to impose on the U.S. on Aug. 7 (see 2507250007) if the two sides hadn’t come to a trade agreement. The U.S. and the EU announced a trade deal last last month (see 2507280027 and 2507280032), and suspending its retaliatory duties will help “ensure effective implementation of the political agreement,” the European Commission said in a document posted to the Official Journal of the EU. “The Commission should keep the suspension under review in light of further developments in the trade relations with the United States, and may take further actions.”
U.S. allies, including in Europe, may back away from their plans to de-risk from China if they continue to see the Trump administration use export controls as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations with China, a panelist said during an event this week hosted by the Center for a New American Security. Others said they’re skeptical about the sustainability of the trade deals announced by the U.S. last week, especially those that commit other countries to large purchases of American goods.
Switzerland's government said it will continue negotiations in the hopes of avoiding 39% U.S. tariffs that begin Aug. 8, which it says will apply to 60% of its exports. Pharmaceuticals, a major product from Switzerland, are not subject to reciprocal tariffs.
The U.K. this week said Mexico has agreed to remove a trade barrier on British pork and will begin approving shipments from 12 pork exporters across England and Northern Ireland, marking Britain's “successful bid to secure long-term access to this lucrative market.” The announcement follows eight years of negotiations between Mexican and U.K. authorities. The British businesses will now be able to export offal and edible by-products to Mexico, the U.K.’s Department for Business and Trade said. The U.K. also noted that the current 20% tariff on British pork will be eliminated once Mexico ratifies the U.K.’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (see 2312290034).