John Riggins

2 months ago | mondaq.com | Robert DeFrancesco |Laura El-Sabaawi |John Riggins

Washington, DC – The U.S. Chassis ManufacturersCoalition filed petitions alleging that unfairly traded imports ofchassis from Mexico, Thailand, and Vietnam are injuring, andthreaten to further injure, the American chassis industry. The petitions demonstrate that chassis producers in each countrysell chassis in the United States at less than fair value.

Jan 10, 2025 | steelmarketupdate.com | Alan Price |John Riggins

The pace of trade-related executive action in the second Trump administration will likely exceed the already fast pace of the first. Within the first few months of his first term, President Trump issued executive orders enhancing the collection of antidumping and countervailing duties and violations of trade and customs laws, studying the US trade deficit, addressing trade agreement violations and abuses, and establishing the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.

Dec 7, 2024 | steelmarketupdate.com | Alan Price |John Riggins

One need only look to the language of the president-elect’s announcements to see that aggressive trade actions are the incoming administration’s top economic priority. In announcing Howard Lutnick as the nominee for Secretary of Commerce, the president-elect emphasized that Lutnick would “lead our Tariff and Trade agenda.” President-elect Trump tasked Scott Bessent with “stop[ping] unfair Trade imbalances” as Secretary of the Treasury.

Nov 19, 2024 | mondaq.com | Alan Price |John Riggins

This article was originally published in Steel Market Update on November 10, 2024, and can be found here. After a frenzied election cycle, Donald Trump will return to the White House with an amplified trade agenda. In the campaign's final days, then-candidate Trump mused about imposing 500% tariffs on Mexican automobiles, making European exporters "pay a big price," and replacing the income tax with tariffs.

Nov 10, 2024 | steelmarketupdate.com | Alan Price |John Riggins

Some may believe this is just campaign hyperbole, but skeptics would be wrong to think tariffs will be watered down before they are rolled out. If the previous Section 232 and 301 measures are any guide, once duties are announced, after a short negotiating period, they will likely stay in place against most countries. Responding to retaliatory tariffs from the EU may be one of the first insights into the new administration’s approach to trading partners.