China

Democrats on the House Ways & Means Committee told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Wednesday that the administration should consider lifting tariffs to blunt the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but several members said he was not receptive to the proposal.

A group representing the U.S. aluminum industry this week filed antidumping duty petitions against imports of common alloy aluminum sheet from 18 countries and countervailing duty petitions against four of them.

Whether the United States and China can come to terms on a broader, second trade agreement likely depends on their ability to overcome a host of U.S. national security concerns that have dominated the trade conversation, but the U.S. likely will be unwilling to discuss those issues in talks with Beijing, according to analysts.

The United States claims the last remaining member of the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body is ineligible to continue serving on the panel because her impartiality has been compromised as she is affiliated with the Chinese government.

“Any slowdown in manufacturing in one part of the world will have a ripple effect in economic activity across the globe because of regional and global value chains.”

Its latest economic assessment predicts major losses under a worst-case scenario.

The House on Tuesday passed a government spending bill that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank for seven years, create a program to boost U.S. competitiveness against China and allow presidential Cabinet members to step in and serve on the bank’s board temporarily at times when it would otherwise lack a quorum.

The U.S.’ 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion worth Chinese goods will remain in place, but the 15 percent tariffs on about $120 billion on Chinese goods will be cut to 7.5 percent as part of a phase-one trade agreement, President Trump announced on Friday, adding the tariffs on $160 billion worth of goods slated to take effect Sunday were suspended.