President Donald Trump told reporters that unless China stops fentanyl shipments, resumes buying U.S. soybeans and stops playing "the rare earth game with us," he won't lower tariffs.
China is looking to shorten its export license application review times, and potentially issue exemptions, as it approaches the Dec. 1 effective date of its new rules to restrict overseas exports that contain certain levels of Chinese-origin material (see 2510090021), a Commerce Ministry spokesperson said Oct. 16 during a press conference.
China is imposing new port fees on U.S. ships and placing sanctions on five U.S. subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Marine Corporation in response to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Section 301 investigation of China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors (see 2506100023).
President Donald Trump, on his way to Israel, softened his message on tariffs on Chinese goods. When asked if imposing those tariffs was still the plan, he said, "Right now it is. Let's see what happens. November 1st is an eternity."
President Donald Trump reacted angrily to China's plan to expand export restrictions, including when rare earths are in products made abroad (see 2510090021. In a social media post that seemed to trigger a 2.7% drop in the S&P 500, he wrote, "Dependent on what China says about the hostile 'order' that they have just put out, I will be forced, as President of the United States of America, to financially counter their move. For every Element that they have been able to monopolize, we have two."
Beijing is investigating whether U.S. chip policies -- including export controls, tariffs and other trade restrictions -- are discriminating against China’s semiconductor sector by suppressing its firms from developing advanced technologies. China also launched an antidumping investigation on imports of certain U.S. analog chips.
Trade enforcement under President Donald Trump could "look a little different" than how the federal government has previously acted because of how the DOJ seems now to want to focus on holding individuals accountable, as opposed to corporations, according to a trade lawyer speaking during a June 6 webinar hosted by the Massachusetts Export Center.
Recent U.S. trade actions, such as the IEEPA tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives, and the temporarily paused reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries worldwide, could cause global container volumes to slump by 1% in 2025, according to U.K-based maritime shipping advisory firm Drewry.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has released in the Federal Register its Section 301 determination on U.S. shipbuilding (see 2504180018), meaning that it has confirmed the timelines for when the U.S. government will collect fees on foreign-built vessels docking at U.S. ports. Fee collection will begin Oct. 14.
Several trade groups representing shippers, the maritime industry and U.S. ports criticized the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's Section 301 determination last week calling for a phased-in approach to levy fees on foreign-built vessels and car-carrying vessels docking at U.S. ports as part of a broader push to build and bolster an American shipbuilding industry (see 2504180018).