Tag: Tariffs

  • China Truce Holds

    Two months after unveiling what it called broadly balanced and positive preliminary outcomes from the China-US economic and trade consultations, China’s Commerce Ministry is converting a framework of tariff ceilings, twin councils, and agricultural breakthroughs into facts on the ground, and the rest of the trading world is recalibrating. On Friday evening Beijing time, China’s…

  • License to Wait

    Five days before a 50th anniversary summit in Beijing, the European Union’s campaign to unblock China’s rare earth export licensing backlog has become the defining test of a trade relationship strained by a record deficit and a month of tit-for-tat measures. BRUSSELS, July 19: When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council…

  • Brazil Defiant

    President Lula rejects Washington’s 25 percent Section 301 tariff as groundless, invoking Brazil’s Reciprocity Law and returning to the WTO as exporters brace for the July 22 start date and a possible 12.5 percent forced labor surcharge on top. Brazil closed the week on a war footing in trade policy, converting President Luiz Inacio Lula…

  • Labor Tariffs

    Sixty economies mount a last-ditch defense as USTR faces a Monday deadline on forced labor duties covering 99 percent of United States imports By Monday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative must complete the most expansive Section 301 investigation ever undertaken, one that found every major American trading partner deficient on forced labor…

  • Steel Tariff

    A full year into Washington’s 50 percent duty on Canadian steel and aluminum, producers report shipments down 60 percent, relief measures have lapsed, and Ottawa weighs its next counter-move as the continental trade pact shifts to annual reviews. OTTAWA, July 19, 2026. Canada’s steel and aluminum producers enter the back half of July still absorbing…

  • Smoke Tariff

    Trump moves to fold the cost of Canadian wildfire smoke into Ottawa’s tariff bill as haze blankets an estimated 100 million Americans, drawing sharp rebukes from Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford. OTTAWA, July 19, 2026. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford pushed back forcefully this weekend against a…

  • Lumber Duty

    As Ontario demands Washington scrap softwood tariffs, Canadian producers brace for a United States final duty ruling due in August that would trim combined rates to about 25 percent while a separate national security levy keeps the effective burden near 35 percent. VANCOUVER, July 19, 2026. Canada’s softwood lumber producers head into the final stretch…

  • CUSMA Limbo

    With Washington refusing to extend the continental trade pact and a fresh tariff threat landing over wildfire smoke, Canada’s push to lift sectoral duties looks set to drag past the U.S. midterms. Canada’s campaign to win relief from a thicket of American tariffs entered a more uncertain phase this weekend, as a fresh threat from…

  • Labor Levy Race

    USTR sprints to finalize forced labor tariffs on 60 economies covering 99 percent of US imports, as governments from Ottawa to Phnom Penh rush through new laws in a last-ditch bid for lower rates WASHINGTON, July 18, 2026. The public record is closed, the hearing transcripts are filed, and the countdown is running. The Office…

  • Brazil Hit 25%

    Washington finalizes sweeping Section 301 duties on roughly 3,000 Brazilian products as Brasilia shelves immediate retaliation, promises a WTO challenge and readies a domestic support package WASHINGTON, July 18, 2026. The United States this week finalized a 25 percent tariff on a broad range of Brazilian goods, capping a yearlong Section 301 investigation and opening…