President Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will impose a 25% tariff on imported automobiles and automobile parts, including engines, transmissions, and electrical components, beginning April 3, 2025. The decision follows a renewed determination that such imports threaten national security by undermining the domestic automotive industrial base.
During the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) hearings on March 24 and 25, 2025, industry stakeholders expressed significant concerns regarding the proposed port fees on Chinese-built and Chinese-operated vessels. The administration’s intent is to counter China’s dominance in shipbuilding and bolster the U.S. maritime sector. However, testimonies highlighted potential adverse effects on various U.S. industries. 
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing a sweeping federal effort to expand domestic production of critical minerals, citing national security and economic independence as primary justifications. The measure invokes the Defense Production Act and targets key resources such as uranium, copper, potash, gold, and aluminum, with provisions that may extend to coal.
President Trump announced the creation of a new Office of Shipbuilding in the White House to boost the U.S. defense industrial base. The administration will resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding, he said. The order reportedly includes measures ranging from raising revenue from fees on Chinese-built ships and cranes entering the U.S., to establishing a new office at the National Security Council to strengthen the domestic maritime sector.
The President on Saturday signed an executive order to expedite logging on federal lands and launched an investigation that could lead to higher tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber. The executive order, titled Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production, directs federal agencies to streamline the permitting process for timber harvesting on public lands. Alongside this initiative, the president instructed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to initiate a Section 232 investigation into the national security implications of lumber imports. Canadian softwood lumber imports to the U.S. are already subject to a 14.5% combined tariff, including both anti-dumping and countervailing duties. A proposed 25% tariff increase, if implemented, would raise the total levy to nearly 40%, potentially leading to higher lumber prices and construction costs across the country.
Peter Harrell, Non-Resident Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, attorney, and host of the Security Economics Podcast shared with us his take on the anticipated timeline for upcoming tariff and trade actions under the Trump administration. While some dates are speculative and all are subject to change, the following milestones are expected:
Speaking at the Federal Bar Association’s (FBA) annual Qui Tam Section Conference, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael Granston reaffirmed the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) commitment to rigorous enforcement of the federal False Claims Act (FCA), with a particular focus on illegal foreign trade practices. With the administration's more relaxed stance on foreign corruption, the resources previously focused on FCPA enforcement may find employment policing tarrif compliance. Mr. Granston linked the DOJ’s aggressive FCA enforcement efforts to broader government priorities aimed at enhancing efficiency and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.
A customs broker pleaded guilty to defrauding his clients – businesses who ship goods into the United States from foreign countries – out of more than $5 million, including after he had been indicted on fraud charges, and to committing more than $1 million in tax evasion.
The Trump administration’s pledge of across-the-board tariffs have many U.S. companies concerned about higher-priced inputs and disrupted supply chains. This article explores the insurance coverage options, such as political risk insurance and trade credit insurance, that can offer coverage to protect against and mitigate trade-related risks. This article also provides advice on how policyholders can maximize coverage should a loss occur, and further discusses the impact that tariffs might have on the insurance market, including premiums for certain types of insurance lines.
Shippers were whipsawed by the news cycle as the White House rolled out its America First Trade Policy, with Presidential actions caroming from Colombia to Canada and Mexico, finally settling on China. More fulsome in scope than previous actions, included are measures ensuring e-commerce heavyweights Temu, Shein and Amazon will no longer be able to take advantage of what House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith has described as a “free trade agreement with China.”
The U.S. Trade Representative has issued findings in the Section 301 investigation of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) targeting the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance, concluding that the PRC’s targeted dominance in these sectors is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce, and is therefore “actionable” under Section 301. As the petitioner U.S. unions have highlighted, the entrenchment of the PRC’s dominance means that U.S. international trade is “carried out on vessels made in China, financed by state-owned Chinese institutions, owned by Chinese shipping companies, and reliant on a global maritime and logistics infrastructure increasingly dominated by China.”
CBP proposes to make merchandise that is subject to specified trade or national security actions (Section 301, Section 232, or Section 201 trade measures) ineligible for the $800 de minimis administrative exemption. They propose to require that certain shipments claiming this exemption provide the 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) classification of the merchandise.
Legislation to prohibit companies affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party from qualifying for green energy production tax credits implemented by the Biden administration through the Inflation Reduction Act has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress. If signed into law, the bill would prevent any company based in China, Russia, Iran or North Korea, and the subsidiaries of those companies from benefiting from these tax credits.
The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) released a new report, Biopower: Securing American Leadership in Biotechnology by Vivek Chilukuri and Hannah Kelley . The report identifies key …
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a final rule prohibiting transactions involving the sale or import of connected vehicles or components integrating specific hardware and software linked to the PRC or Russia. The final rule bans the import of VCS hardware or connected vehicles containing such hardware, as well as the import and sale of vehicles with VCS or ADS software linked to the PRC or Russia. VCS encompasses systems enabling external communication, such as telematics, Bluetooth, cellular, satellite, and Wi-Fi modules. ADS refers to components enabling highly autonomous vehicle operation without a driver. The rule also prohibits manufacturers with a sufficient nexus to the PRC or Russia from selling new connected vehicles that incorporate VCS hardware or software or ADS software in the United States, even if the vehicle was made in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the addition of 37 entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, marking the largest expansion since the law’s enforcement began in 2022. The additions include globally recognized companies involved in mining critical minerals, producing solar modules, and manufacturing textiles.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a proposed amendment to its regulations to strengthen oversight of low-value shipments valued at $800 or less. The proposed rule would establish a new process for entering low-value shipments under Section 321(a)(2)(C) of the Tariff Act. This process would enable CBP to collect enhanced electronic data to better identify high-risk shipments, including those potentially containing illicit drugs such as fentanyl, counterfeit goods, or other contraband.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a proposed amendment to its regulations to strengthen oversight of low-value shipments valued at $800 or less. The proposed rule would establish a new process for entering low-value shipments under Section 321(a)(2)(C) of the Tariff Act. This process would enable CBP to collect enhanced electronic data to better identify high-risk shipments, including those potentially containing illicit drugs such as fentanyl, counterfeit goods, or other contraband.
The US Trade Representative’s Office issed six policy papers on trade and investment policy initiatives that promote supply chain resilience. The policy papers address a trade policy framework for supply chain resilience; challenges and opportunities for advancing resilience in the US textile and apparel industries; use of rules of origin to promote resilience; how more effective responses to non-market policies and practices build resilience; data and analytics for developing resilience-oriented trade policy; and sectoral trade agreements for enhancing resilience.
Prepared by a team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the National Bureau of Asian Research, this report examines the existing export control regime of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and presents a methodology for anticipating and identifying future PRC controls on raw materials. The PRC’s system of export controls has historically been piecemeal, and its administration poorly understood. Recent formalization of the system beginning in 2020 and escalating in 2023 is consistent with the PRC’s increased exercise of lawfare and demonstrates greater regulatory capabilities. PRC authorities are able to weaponize supply chains by targeting specific critical minerals under new export controls.