Latest news with #NationalForeignTradeCouncil
Daily Maverick
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
US pushes countries for best offers by Wednesday as tariff deadline looms
Trump administration wants countries to detail tariff rates, potential US investments Trade group welcomes move to accelerate trade talks USTR draft letter reveals urgency to finalize deals with trading partners Court ruling challenges legality of Trump's sweeping tariff policies By Jarrett Renshaw The draft, from the office of the United States Trade Representative, provides a window into how President Donald Trump plans to bring to a close unwieldy negotiations with dozens of countries that kicked off on April 9 when he paused his 'Liberation Day' tariffs for 90 days until July 8 after stock, bond and currency markets revolted over the sweeping nature of the levies. The document suggests an urgency within the administration to complete deals against its own tight deadline. While officials such as White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett have repeatedly promised that several agreements were nearing completion, so far only one agreement has been reached with a major U.S. trading partner: Britain. Even that limited pact was more akin to a framework for ongoing talks than a final deal. In the draft, the U.S. is asking countries to list their best proposals in a number of key areas, including tariff and quota offers for purchase of U.S. industrial and agricultural products and plans to remedy any non-tariff barriers. Other requested items include any commitments on digital trade and economic security, along with country-specific commitments, according to the letter. The U.S. will evaluate the responses within days and offer 'a possible landing zone' that could include a reciprocal tariff rate, according to the letter. It was unclear which countries would receive the letter, but it was directed at those with active negotiations that included meetings and exchanges of documents. Washington has been engaged in such talks with the European Union, Japan, Vietnam and India, among others. A USTR official said trade talks were ongoing. 'Productive negotiations with many key trading partners continue at a rapid pace. It is in all parties' interest to take stock of progress and assess any next steps.' 'REGARDLESS OF ONGOING LITIGATION' Tiffany Smith, vice president of global trade policy at the National Foreign Trade Council, welcomed the USTR moves. 'We are encouraged that USTR is moving negotiations ahead as quickly as they can,' she told Reuters, adding that trade deals that removed barriers for U.S. companies abroad and lowered U.S. tariffs would be 'a win-win if they are done in a way that returns predictability and stability to trade relationships.' Trump's ambitious – and often frenetic – tariff policy is a pillar of his 'America First' economic agenda as he seeks to reshape U.S. trade relationships, reduce trade deficits and protect American industries. Republican lawmakers are also banking on tariffs to add to federal revenue and offset the cost of the tax cut legislation now working its way through Congress. Trump's tariff policies have taken investors on a rollercoaster ride. In May, U.S. stocks held their biggest rally of any month since November 2023, but that was after global indexes had cratered under the barrage of Trump's tariff announcements through February, March and early April. Stocks were little changed on Monday afternoon after Trump announced a surprise doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Friday at an event in Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, the legality of the approach used for imposing the most sweeping of his tariffs has been cast into doubt. Last Wednesday, the Court of International Trade ruled that Trump had overstepped his authority with tariffs devised under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, including the 'Liberation Day' levies and earlier ones imposed on goods from Canada, Mexico and China related to Trump's accusations that the three countries have facilitated the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Less than 24 hours later, an appeals court temporarily paused that decision. The tariffs at the center of the legal dispute are expected to remain in effect as the case plays out. The draft letter to trading partners warns them not to believe the tariffs will be sidelined if the court rules against Trump's use of the IEEPA. 'Regardless of ongoing litigation concerning the President's reciprocal tariff action in U.S. courts, the President intends to continue this tariff program pursuant to other robust legal authorities if necessary, so it is important that we continue our discussions on these matters,' the draft says.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Good cops, bad cops - how Trump's shifting tariff team kept world guessing
In the chaotic minutes after US President Donald Trump's administration abruptly reversed course and paused dozens of sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs, one man quickly became the public face of the decision: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "It took great courage," the bespectacled 62-year-old former hedge fund manager told the dozens of reporters gathered around him on 9 April. "Great courage to stay the course until this moment." Notably absent during the press briefing - after which markets rocketed - were the other two men tasked with delivering Trump's tariff message to the American people: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and trade adviser Pete Navarro. Bessent's centre-stage role in the tariffs announcement, some experts have suggested, starkly highlights how shifting power dynamics within the White House brought the US back from the brink of an all-out global trade war, even if all the players are broadly supportive of Trump's economic agenda. "He's playing the good cop," William Alan Reinsch, the former head of the National Foreign Trade Council, told the BBC. "And Lutnick and Navarro are playing the bad cop." What are tariffs and why is Trump using them? Trump had five tariff goals - has he achieved any of them? Publicly, the White House has been largely quiet on the chain of events that led to Trump's market-shaking decision to pause reciprocal tariffs for most countries while raising levies on China, with the president saying only that he had been "thinking about it" for a "few days" before it "came together" early on the morning of 9 April. But according to US media reports, it was Bessent, inundated with calls from business leaders, that played a key part in swaying Trump, including with conversations on Air Force One the weekend beforehand and in the Oval Office on the morning of the decision. Earlier in his career, Bessent expressed reservations about tariffs. Some observers believe these views, together with long experience in the bond market, ultimately made it possible for him to gain the president's ear over Navarro and Lutnick, both of whom represented a harder-line stance on the tariffs. "I think what happened was that Trump wasn't paying attention to the bond market," added Mr Reinsch, now an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "And Bessent got him to pay attention." Mr Reinsch, who was also undersecretary of commerce for export administration in the 1990s during President Bill Clinton's administration, said that Bessent's approach, so far, has been "a classic way to deal with Trump". "Don't tell him he's wrong or made a mistake," he added. "Tell him there's a better way forward to achieve his objectives, and that the market is not reacting the way we want it to react." On the morning of the announcement on 9 April, Trump met in the Oval Office with Bessent as well as National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett and Lutnick, the 63-year-old former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald and a noted China hawk. Two other key players in tariffs policy were notably absent, prompting one source close to the White House to tell Reuters news agency there had been a "pecking order change". One, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, was just a short drive away on Capitol Hill, testifying about tariffs before a House of Representative committee. He would later that day learn of the tariffs announcement in real-time along with the lawmakers, prompting a tense exchange in which he was accused of having the "rug pulled out" from underneath him. The other, Peter Navarro, was similarly absent despite being one of the most visible figures in the media on tariffs, prompting speculation his stance had fallen out of favour with the president. At times, the various figures involved in tariffs gave contradictory statements on the policy, which experts say contributed to confusion and market volatility. "They are not singing on the same page," said Mark Sobel, who spent nearly 40 years at the Treasury Department, including as deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy. "You hear Navarro, you hear Bessent, you hear the president and you feel you're getting whiplash," he added. "This is not a disciplined group." Terry Haines, the founder of Washington DC-based consultancy Pangaea Policy, told the BBC he believes that it was "deliberate" that the administration put forward various people to become the public faces of tariffs. "[They wanted to] throw as many spokespeople out there, say different things, and flood the zone with opinion," he said. "It may have efficacy in politics, but it confuses the hell out of markets." As an example, Mr Haines pointed to Navarro, who he said gets "more leeway than you'd expect" owing to the four-month jail term he served for contempt of Congress after ignoring a subpoena from a House committee investigating the 2021 US Capitol riot. "They appeal to different audiences. Bessent would be interested in the financial press, while Navarro has a different message," he said. Haines, however, cautioned against assuming that any one person contributed the most to Trump's decision. "Markets want winners and losers, like People magazine-style stuff," he said. "But we need to know who to listen to, and that became, pretty much by default, Bessent." Several experts contacted by the BBC said they expect Bessent to now take a much more prominent public role in tariff policy, with Lutnick taking charge of the negotiations, while Navarro, Hassett and Greer playing supporting roles. Haines, for example, said he believes Bessent will become, in real terms, "the spokesman for economic policy". Ultimately, a more structured approach could contribute to market stability, according to Andrew Hale, an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "I imagine it will get more certain as we go forward," he said. "It's what businesses and investors want." US stock markets rise on Trump tariff rollback What are tariffs and why is Trump using them? Trump threatens new tariffs on smartphones days after exempting them
BBC News
14-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Good cops, bad cops - how Trump's tariff team kept world guessing
In the chaotic minutes after US President Donald Trump's administration abruptly reversed course and paused dozens of sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs, one man quickly became the public face of the decision: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "It took great courage," the bespectacled 62-year-old former hedge fund manager told the dozens of reporters gathered around him on 9 April. "Great courage to stay the course until this moment." Notably absent during the press briefing - after which markets rocketed - were the other two men tasked with delivering Trump's tariff message to the American people: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and trade adviser Pete Navarro. Bessent's centre-stage role in the tariffs announcement, some experts have suggested, starkly highlights how shifting power dynamics within the White House brought the US back from the brink of an all-out global trade war, even if all the players are broadly supportive of Trump's economic agenda. "He's playing the good cop," William Alan Reinsch, the former head of the National Foreign Trade Council, told the BBC. "And Lutnick and Navarro are playing the bad cop." What are tariffs and why is Trump using them?Trump had five tariff goals - has he achieved any of them?Publicly, the White House has been largely quiet on the chain of events that led to Trump's market-shaking decision to pause reciprocal tariffs for most countries while raising levies on China, with the president saying only that he had been "thinking about it" for a "few days" before it "came together" early on the morning of 9 April. But according to US media reports, it was Bessent, inundated with calls from business leaders, that played a key part in swaying Trump, including with conversations on Air Force One the weekend beforehand and in the Oval Office on the morning of the decision. Earlier in his career, Bessent expressed reservations about tariffs. Some observers believe these views, together with long experience in the bond market, ultimately made it possible for him to gain the president's ear over Navarro and Lutnick, both of whom represented a harder-line stance on the tariffs."I think what happened was that Trump wasn't paying attention to the bond market," added Mr Reinsch, now an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "And Bessent got him to pay attention."Mr Reinsch, who was also undersecretary of commerce for export administration in the 1990s during President Bill Clinton's administration, said that Bessent's approach, so far, has been "a classic way to deal with Trump". "Don't tell him he's wrong or made a mistake," he added. "Tell him there's a better way forward to achieve his objectives, and that the market is not reacting the way we want it to react." On the morning of the announcement on 9 April, Trump met in the Oval Office with Bessent as well as National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett and Lutnick, the 63-year-old former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald and a noted China hawk. Two other key players in tariffs policy were notably absent, prompting one source close to the White House to tell Reuters news agency there had been a "pecking order change". One, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, was just a short drive away on Capitol Hill, testifying about tariffs before a House of Representative committee. He would later that day learn of the tariffs announcement in real-time along with the lawmakers, prompting a tense exchange in which he was accused of having the "rug pulled out" from underneath other, Peter Navarro, was similarly absent despite being one of the most visible figures in the media on tariffs, prompting speculation his stance had fallen out of favour with the president. At times, the various figures involved in tariffs gave contradictory statements on the policy, which experts say contributed to confusion and market volatility. "They are not singing on the same page," said Mark Sobel, who spent nearly 40 years at the Treasury Department, including as deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy."You hear Navarro, you hear Bessent, you hear the president and you feel you're getting whiplash," he added. "This is not a disciplined group." Terry Haines, the founder of Washington DC-based consultancy Pangaea Policy, told the BBC he believes that it was "deliberate" that the administration put forward various people to become the public faces of tariffs."[They wanted to] throw as many spokespeople out there, say different things, and flood the zone with opinion," he said. "It may have efficacy in politics, but it confuses the hell out of markets." As an example, Mr Haines pointed to Navarro, who he said gets "more leeway than you'd expect" owing to the four-month jail term he served for contempt of Congress after ignoring a subpoena from a House committee investigating the 2021 US Capitol riot. "They appeal to different audiences. Bessent would be interested in the financial press, while Navarro has a different message," he said. Haines, however, cautioned against assuming that any one person contributed the most to Trump's decision. "Markets want winners and losers, like People magazine-style stuff," he said. "But we need to know who to listen to, and that became, pretty much by default, Bessent." Several experts contacted by the BBC said they expect Bessent to now take a much more prominent public role in tariff policy, with Lutnick taking charge of the negotiations, while Navarro, Hassett and Greer playing supporting roles. Haines, for example, said he believes Bessent will become, in real terms, "the spokesman for economic policy". Ultimately, a more structured approach could contribute to market stability, according to Andrew Hale, an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "I imagine it will get more certain as we go forward," he said. "It's what businesses and investors want."
Axios
08-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
The new tariff arbitrage
Global corporations rushed out of China to dodge tariffs during President Trump's first term. This time around, they have nowhere to hide — and policy is changing faster than supply chains can. Why it matters: With high tariffs set to go into effect Wednesday in nearly every nation, there is no shield to be had (barring last-ditch negotiations or suspensions). It means multinational companies can't duck import taxes by rerouting goods. Companies will look to adapt their sourcing to minimize tariffs. But the trade policy landscape is shifting day by day, and complex multinational supply chains take much longer to redesign. That makes some hit to prices and/or corporate profits inevitable, even if over time there are opportunities to shift activity to lower-tariff countries. What they're saying:"Once the dust settles, I think you're going to see companies looking at basically tariff arbitrage possibilities," Bill Reinsch, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told reporters at a briefing on Monday. "Which is: 'Can we shift our supply chains to countries that have lower tariffs? So instead of paying 46% from Vietnam, if we can pay 26% in India, that's worth looking at," said Reinsch, who previously led the National Foreign Trade Council. Flashback: This is similar to the go-to strategy throughout the first phase of the U.S.-China trade war in 2019. Companies adjusted their sourcing and supply chains out of China to Southeast Asian nations like Vietnam and Cambodia, which were key beneficiaries. It is what gave some companies confidence they would not bear the brunt of tariffs in Trump's second term. "What you've really seen happen is there's been a lot of suppliers who built manufacturing capabilities in Cambodia, in Vietnam, in Malaysia, Indonesia, other places so that they actually have more control over their future, should the tariff landscape change, etc.," Niraj Shah, CEO of online furniture retailer Wayfair, said on an earnings call in November. "I think we have kind of a couple benefits going for us: One is that the industry is definitely in a different position than it was five years ago," Shah added, noting Wayfair's network of suppliers in countries like Brazil and Europe. The big picture: Before Trump 1.0, trade policy shifts never happened overnight. The trade backdrop that defined global manufacturing lasted for decades. In Trump's first term, tariffs were more targeted than they are this time around: mostly lower, and implemented through authorities that required lengthy periods of study and consideration of exemptions. That gave companies more time to plan ahead and argue their case for exclusions. State of play: This time around, things are broader and faster-moving, with reciprocal tariffs on nearly all goods from nearly every country set to go into effect a mere week after they were announced. It raises the risk that companies will be hesitant to make the long-term, expensive investment decisions Trump officials say will reap U.S. economic benefits. The bottom line: What executives "have to keep in mind is that no matter what they do, it's going to be more expensive and less efficient than what they've been doing now," Reinsch said.
Globe and Mail
03-04-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Trump Tariffs Dismantle Decades of Globalization as U.S. Demands Factories Come Home
Trump's new tariffs aren't just about trade—they're about making 'America Great Again.' On what he's dubbed 'Liberation Day,' the former president dropped a sweeping set of import tariffs designed to reverse decades of globalization and force companies to bring production and factories back to the U.S. Don't Miss Our End of Quarter Offers: Discover the latest stocks recommended by top Wall Street analysts, all in one place with Analyst Top Stocks. Make smarter investments with weekly expert stock picks from the Smart Investor Newsletter. White House Pushes a Made-in-America Mandate The policy is simple on paper: a 10% base tariff on all imports, with higher rates on top trading partners—54% for China, 46% for Vietnam, and 20% for the EU. The message is even clearer. If your goods aren't made in the U.S., they're going to cost a lot more. Trump has long promised to overhaul global supply chains. But the scale of this new round signals a dramatic escalation. Multinational companies from automakers to tech giants now face a choice: pay the price, or shift operations closer to home. Backlash Builds as Businesses Warn of Price Pain Critics are already pushing back. Industry groups say the tariffs will hurt American consumers more than foreign exporters. Higher input costs, more expensive imports, and retaliatory tariffs could squeeze sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, and retail all at once. The National Foreign Trade Council called it a 'massive tax hike' on U.S. businesses. And if past trade wars are any guide, these price shocks could hit shelves fast. The U.S. Is Turning Away from the Global Trade Model According a Wall Street Journal report, this plan marks the most aggressive shift away from globalization by any modern U.S. administration. The paper reported that the goal is to fully reorient the economy around domestic production—signaling the end of America's decades-long support for a global, open-market system. It's unclear whether this reshoring push will bring back jobs—or just leave consumers footing a bigger bill. How Did the Market React to Trump's Tariffs? Markets weren't exactly cheering. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, which tracks 500 of the largest U.S.-based companies, dropped 2.99% in pre-market trading following the tariff announcement. Sectors like industrials and tech took the biggest hit. The message from Wall Street was loud and clear—reshoring factories might sound good politically, but investors aren't buying it just yet.
