TRADE UPDATE

Food & Agriculture
April 15, 2025

Prepared by DTB AgriTrade

SUBSCRIBE

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Reciprocal Tariffs Pause and Escalation:
    • On April 9, President Trump issued an executive order that paused country-specific reciprocal tariffs for 90 days; these countries will still be subject to the universal 10% baseline tariffs. The main exception is China, which will face a 145% tariff on all exports to the United States.
    • China’s 125% tariff took effect on April 11th. The EU paused its retaliatory tariffs for 90 days. Canada had announced several waves of retaliation, including some agrifood products, but against separate U.S. tariff actions.
    • Administration officials have begun negotiations with several of the many countries that contacted them following the reciprocal tariff announcement, such as Japan and Vietnam.
  • Other Tariff Action:
    • President Trump signed the Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance Executive Order on April 9. This includes some revisions to the scope of its Section 301 tariffs on Chinese-built vessels and operators.
    • On April 8, USTR Jamieson Greer and President Trump announced that tariffs on pharmaceutical goods are on the way. Pharmaceuticals were listed as exempt in Annex II of the “Liberation Day” notice on April 2.
    • Late Friday, CBP announced a series of exceptions from the reciprocal tariffs for consumer electronics products, though President Trump later clarified that an upcoming Section 232 investigation would look at the “whole electronics supply chain.”
  • USTR: At his hearings with the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, USTR Greer defended the Trump administration’s tariff policy. Greer acknowledged that businesses will feel some pain, but argued that it was necessary to bring manufacturing back to the United States. He said that President Trump would not be granting tariff exemptions, at least in the short term, but also reiterated that President Trump is open to negotiating with countries.
  • Congress:
    • On April 8, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) introduced privileged resolutions to end the national emergency declared by President Trump to justify the slew of new U.S. tariffs.
    • On April 10, 19 House Democrats introduced the Stopping a Rogue President on Trade Act, which would put an end to President Trump’s reciprocal and baseline tariffs and the 25% duties on Canada and Mexico and would require congressional approval for most new tariff actions.
    • Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) introduced a resolution to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization (WTO) on April 10. The WTO implementing legislation allows a privileged vote on WTO withdrawal every five years.
  • North America:

“The United States is not, through this action, altering or abrogating its WTO tariff bindings or commitments. Rather, with this action, the United States is taking action it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests. For this reason, the United States invokes and is maintaining this measure pursuant to the essential security exception in the WTO Agreement.”

—U.S. Statement on Reciprocal Tariffs at the WTO

Reciprocal Tariffs Pause and Escalation

90-PAUSE ON COUNTRY-SPECIFIC RECIPROCAL TARIFFS

  • On April 9, President Trump issued an executive order that paused country-specific reciprocal tariffs for 90 days. The order, “Modifying Reciprocal Tariff Rates to Reflect Trading Partner Retaliation and Alignment”, suspends the higher “reciprocal” tariffs for the 57 countries listed in Annex 1 of the “Liberation Day” notice until July 9, 2025, but states that they will still be subject to the universal 10% baseline tariffs.
  • The main exception is China, which will face a 145% tariff on all exports to the U.S. President Trump has now increased the tariff rate on China six times since taking office with tit-for-tat tariffs in response up with a minimum of 125% on all U.S. goods, plus any preexisting tariffs.
  • The decision to issue a 90-day pause on almost all individual “reciprocal” tariffs comes after massive losses in both stocks and bonds following the “Liberation Day” tariff announcements.

RETALIATION

  • China’s 84% tariffs on all U.S. goods took effect on Thursday, April 10 and the 125% tariff on April 11th. The duties apply to all U.S. imports entering China, which totaled $143.5 billion in 2024, according to USTR.
  • The EU paused its retaliatory tariffs (against steel and aluminum tariffs) for 90 days to allow for negotiations while the U.S. pause is in effect.
    • The bloc has yet to announce its response to U.S. “reciprocal” tariffs (originally set at 20% for the EU, now at 10%) or auto tariffs (which are set at 25%).
  • Canada has announced several waves of retaliation: 25% tariffs on $30 billion of imports that include a range of agrifood products, 25% on another $30 billion of imports in response to steel and aluminum tariffs, and most recently, 25% on automobile imports in response to the auto Section 232 tariffs. It has held off on imposing threatened tariffs on an additional $155 billion of imported goods.
  • Five disputes have been filed at the WTO by Canada and China.

NEGOTIATIONS

  • In announcing the tariff pause, President Trump pointed to 75 countries that have called to negotiate.
  • At a press conference on April 10, following a Cabinet meeting, President Trump expressed openness to several options that could lead to a softening of his “reciprocal” tariffs. He noted that the 10% baseline tariffs that are currently in effect could be up for negotiation and expressed openness to considering targeted exemptions to the “reciprocal” tariffs. He also raised the possibility of supplementing the work of Administration officials with private law firms to speed up negotiations during the 90-day pause announced on April 10 (Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and USTR Greer discussed an interagency process for negotiations during the Cabinet meeting).
  • Administration officials have begun negotiations with several of the many countries that contacted them following the reciprocal tariff announcement, such as Japan and Vietnam.

Other Tariff Action

SECTION 301 SHIPBUILDING INVESTIGATION

  • President Trump signed the Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance Executive Order on April 9. This includes some revisions to the scope of its Section 301 tariffs on Chinese-built vessels and operators. USTR’s proposed fees aim to counter China’s dominance in the shipbuilding sector.
    • After USTR announced its proposed remedies in February 2025, stakeholders in the maritime and trade industries expressed major concerns with their impact on shipping costs, port disruptions, and potential retaliation.
    • USTR Greer discussed the proposal in response to questions from the Senate Finance Committee, recognizing the concerns about unintended consequences and USTR’s intention to find the “right incentives to create shipbuilding here without impacting our commodity exports.”

MORE SECTION 232 TARIFFS

  • On April 8, USTR Jamieson Greer expanded on President Trump’s repeated assertion that tariffs on pharmaceutical goods are on the way. Pharmaceuticals were listed as exempt in Annex II of the reciprocal tariff notice.
    • Greer told the House Ways and Means Committee that President Trump “wants to get manufacturing production back here, so he’s going to conduct an investigation to see what’s appropriate in terms of tariffs,” suggesting that the Administration intends to impose the duties under Section 232.
    • The U.S. imports much of its supply from Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, India, China, and other countries.
  • Late Friday, CBP announced a series of exceptions from the reciprocal tariffs for consumer electronics products, though President Trump later clarified that an upcoming Section 232 investigation would look at the “whole electronics supply chain.”
    • For now, smart phones, computers, and other consumer electronics are exempt from the 125% reciprocal tariffs on China as well as the 10% baseline tariff on other countries. They face a 20% IEEPA tariff on Chinese imports.

USTR

USTR JAMIESON GREER HEARINGS

  • USTR Greer defended the Trump administration’s tariff policy at two routine hearings on the Hill this week.
    • At his Senate Finance Committee hearing on April 8, Greer acknowledged that businesses will feel some pain but argued that it was necessary to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. He said that President Trump would not be granting tariff exemptions, at least in the short term.
    • Several Republican committee members questioned if the tariffs were for negotiations or other goals like revenue. USTR Greer stated the administration would negotiate with trading partners but did not give timelines for deals, noting the deficit took over 30 years to create.
  • At the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on April 9, USTR Greer reiterated that President Trump is open to negotiating with countries and noted that he recently spoke with the European Union, South Korea, Ecuador, and Mexico. The tariff pause was announced on Truth Social during the hearing.
  • Foreign trade barriers to U.S. agriculture and possible retaliation were discussed at both hearings. USTR Greer noted that only China had decided to respond so far.
    • Foreign trade barriers mentioned included EU biotech and deforestation regulations, Japan’s rice tariffs, Thailand’s beef tariffs, Brazil’s ethanol tariffs, and Australia’s barriers to U.S. beef and pork, among others.
C’mon now
Woah there
Let’s be reasonable

Congress

WYDEN/NEAL RESOLUTIONS ON TRADE DEFICIT EMERGENCY

  • Congress continues its efforts to reassert its trade oversight and restrict President Trump’s ability to impose tariffs. On April 8, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-OR) and House Ways & Means ranking member Richard Neal (D-MA) introduced resolutions to end the national emergency declared by President Trump to justify a slew of U.S. tariffs.
    • The Senate resolution was co-sponsored by six Senators, including Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky. In a joint statement, the Senators said, “No president should have the power to tax everything Americans buy without being accountable to Congress.”
    • The House resolution was co-sponsored by 39 democratic lawmakers. In a joint press release, they called the Trump administration’s tariffs “economic sabotage dressed up as policy.”
  • The resolutions are privileged, which could force a vote in both chambers. President Trump would be able to veto a joint resolution.

WAYS AND MEANS BILL TO END NEW TARIFFS

  • On April 10, all House Ways and Means Democrats, and Rep. Adam Gray (D-CA), co-sponsored the Stopping a Rogue President on Trade Act. The bill, led by Ways & Means trade subcommittee ranking member Linda Sánchez (D-CA), would put an end to President Trump’s “reciprocal” and baseline tariffs and the 25% duties on Canada and Mexico. It would also require congressional approval for most new tariff actions. Tariff actions such as trade remedies, safeguards, and trade agreement dispute settlement would not require congressional approval, according to the press release.
  • Last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Trade Review Act of 2025, which would also require congressional approval of new tariffs.

WTO WITHDRAWAL LEGISLATION

  • Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) introduced a resolution to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization (WTO) on April 10. The WTO implementing legislation allows a privileged vote on WTO withdrawal every five years. The press release claims that the WTO “looked the other way” while China maintained trade barriers.
  • Then-Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the last withdrawal resolution considered by Congress in 2005. It failed 86-338.

North America

NEW TARIFF THREAT AGAINST MEXICO

  • On April 10, President Trump threatened new tariffs on Mexico due to low water deliveries to Texas farmers. He cited the 2024 closure of the last Texas sugar mill.
  • Both countries have been facing severe drought conditions in the region. Mexican President Sheinbaum responded on social media, noting the ongoing drought and that a proposal had been sent the day before on how to address the issue. She expressed confidence that there will be an agreement.

CSIS NORTH AMERICAN AGRICULTURE EVENT

  • The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) hosted a day-long event on April 10 entitled Cultivating Competitiveness: Positioning North America as a Strategic Agricultural Bloc.
  • The event included breakout sessions on the growth in the North American agricultural sector under the original North American Free Trade Agreement and the successive U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, agricultural competitiveness, addressing transportation and logistical challenges, emerging technologies, and agricultural innovation.
  • All panels are available here.