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Bessent: Tariffs Are Not Taxes

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the Senate Finance Committee 12 June 2025
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent repeatedly denied that tariffs are taxes in an appearance before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday, saying there is no “empirical evidence” that prices are rising because of President Trump’s tariffs.
Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler June 12, 2025
Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler faced pointed questions over the Bureau of …
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Lax Export Controls for Trade Deal?

The Trump administration has offered to scale back key export controls on advanced technologies as part of a renewed push to secure a comprehensive trade agreement with China, marking a significant shift in the use of national security tools as leverage in trade negotiations.

White House Pushes Back on Russia Sanctions

The White House is pressing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to significantly revise the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 , which currently commands broad bipartisan support in the Senate. Congressional aides warned that such changes would “render Graham’s bill toothless.”

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Visit The Export Practitioner

Welcome to Your WTTL

The Washington Tariff and Trade Letter introduces a web-based format for easier review, research and sharing.  Clicking on a story in the newsletter will now bring you to the full text on our new web site. A .pdf version of the newsletter is available below.   For any questions about website access and your subscription, please contact us at Info@TradeRegs.com – Or call the Editor, Frank Ruffing, at +1.703.283.5220

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Vol 45 No. 23 June 8, 2025

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The latest news
President Trump declines head protection at a Pennsylvania steel plant May 30

Trump Reverses Biden Block on Nippon Steel–U.S. Steel Deal

President Donald J. Trump on Friday issued an Executive Order reversing the Biden administration’s prior prohibition of Nippon Steel Corporation’s proposed acquisition of United States Steel Corporation. The order clears the way for the $14.9 billion deal to proceed, contingent upon the execution and enforcement of a binding national security agreement.

TAMSA's parent Tenaris has 26,000 employees and 8.7 million tons seamless and welded pipe manufacturing capacity

USMCA Steel Action

United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced that the United States has formally requested that Mexico review alleged violations of labor rights at Tubos de Acero de Mexico, S.A. (TAMSA), a steel pipe manufacturer in Veracruz.
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Port au Prince, Haiti

Caribbean Basin Initiative Comments Sought

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has launched its biennial review of country eligibility under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and is soliciting public comments to inform its report to Congress.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the Senate Finance Committee 12 June 2025

ITA Opens Auto Tariff Offset Program

Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) has opened the application process for automobile manufacturers to request tariff relief under the Import Adjustment Offset Program established by Presidential Proclamation 10925. The program aims to subsidize U.S. automobile assembly operations and reduce reliance on imported parts that the administration has deemed a national security risk.
Ethane (left) and its offspring Acetic Acid (middle) and Ethanol (Right) Black is Carbon, White Hydrogen, Red Oxygen

London Talks Reverse “Monumentally Ill-Advised” Ethane Export Controls

Following high-level U.S.–China trade talks in London, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that the United States will reverse recently imposed export controls on ethane shipments to China. The decision ends a short-lived but disruptive policy that, according to observers, revealed deep flaws in U.S. economic statecraft.
GVA Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2016.

Bay Area VC Firm Fined $216 Mn for Sanctions Violations

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed a $215,988,868 civil penalty on GVA Capital Ltd., a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, for egregious violations of U.S. sanctions targeting Russia and Ukraine, and for failing to comply with a federal subpoena.
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“We have an exception to Loper Bright,” the Government's lawyer told the court.
Counsel representing Chinese aluminum foil companies cited Tina Turner during oral arguments at the U.S. Court of International Trade on Thursday, as attorneys faced off over the U.S. Department of Commerce’s approach to surrogate value data selection post-Loper Bright.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is requesting public input on the renewal of its information collection program supporting national security and critical technology …
A federal appeals court has extended a stay on a lower court ruling that blocked President Donald Trump’s controversial use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs, allowing the levies to remain in place pending further litigation.
Justice has reached a settlement with Epik Solutions, doing business as Epikso, after determining the company unlawfully excluded U.S. citizens and other work-authorized individuals from job …
The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
With this week's indictment of Crypto Bro Iurii Gugnin on half-billion-dollar money laundering, sanctions and export control charges, along with the release of revised and greatly loosened enforcement guidelines for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, we wanted to check in on the progress Congressional sponsors have made with the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act (S. 1582), which aims to establish the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
Head of the Criminal Division Matthew R. Galeotti

DOJ Criminal Chief Galeotti Speaks on FCPA Guidelines

Head of the Criminal Division Matthew Galeotti discussed his  newly released Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Enforcement Guidelines at the American Conference Institute (ACI) FCPA & Global Anti‑Corruption Conference in New York June 10. The guidelines, outlined in a June 9, 2025 memorandum from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, direct prosecutors to pursue FCPA cases only when U.S. interests are demonstrably implicated.

Detail of the Robert F. Kennedy Building, Main Justice, Washington

FCPA Guidelines Released

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has issued new enforcement guidelines governing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), consistent with the President's mandate to give US firms more latitude to compete overseas.  The new rules restore what the Administration has called the “proper bounds” of FCPA enforcement and reorient prosecutorial discretion toward conduct that demonstrably undermines American strategic and economic interests.
Clippy was the original AI

Microsoft on AI Export Controls

At the June 10 session of the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC), Microsoft’s Global Trade legal team urged the Department of Commerce to adopt a more flexible and …
Port of Seattle

Census / AES Update

In his presentation to the June 10 RPTAC, Omari Wooden, Assistant Division Chief, Trade Outreach and Regulations at US Census Bureau discussed the upcoming release of a final rule, clarifications on Automated Export System (AES) filing requirements, and modernization of the Census Bureau’s trade data tools.

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