While the Venezuela military action doesn't affect trade substantially, a panel of experts said the fallout with regard to President Donald Trump's comments about Greenland afterward could "blow up the U.S.-EU deal."
Nathaniel Moulton left his position last week as an information and communications technology specialist within the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration, he announced on LinkedIn. Moulton first joined Commerce in 2024 in the Office of Information and Communication Technologies, where he said he worked to "grow the U.S. quantum computing ecosystem and strengthen U.S. supply chain resilience." He also had a stint in 2021-2022 in policy coordination with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
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China will take “corresponding measures” if the U.S. “continues down the wrong path” by imposing Section 301 tariffs on semiconductors, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a regular press conference Dec. 24 in Beijing.
Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and John Kennedy, R-La., have urged the Trump administration to pressure the EU to repeal a new methane mandate that they say could hurt U.S. oil and gas exports.
The Senate on Dec. 18 confirmed the nomination of Julie Callahan to serve as chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and approved Jeffrey Goettman to be deputy USTR for Africa, the Western Hemisphere, Europe, the Middle East, Environment, Labor and Industrial Competitiveness.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Trump administration will recommend renewal of USMCA only if 20 issues can be resolved, and maybe more, as he told Congress this isn't an exhaustive list.
A bipartisan bill was introduced in the House to ask the U.S. trade representative to push Mexico and Canada to establish an investment screening regime and coordinate on "shared threats from investments in strategically important economic sectors and critical infrastructure in North America."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., this week criticized the Trump administration’s decision to suspend the Bureau of Industry and Security's 50% rule (see 2510300024) and allow exports of Nvidia H200 chips to China, suggesting the U.S. is sacrificing national security for improved trade relations with China.
Almost 75 House members, from both parties, asked the U.S. trade representative to hold Canada accountable for not meeting its dairy commitments under USMCA. The U.S. already brought two panels against Canada over the issue of its tariff rate quota administration, and while it won some arguments in the first dispute, Canada's fixes were ruled adequate in the second (see 2311240002).