November 12, 2025—Top Stories:
Bessent and Trump: Agriculture Tariff Cuts Could be Coming Soon
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said the Trump administration will soon announce a broad package of agricultural tariff cuts.
“You’re going to see some substantial announcement over the next couple of days in terms of things we don’t grow here in the United States, coffee being one of them,” Bessent aid in an interview on Fox News. “Bananas, other fruits, things like that. So that will bring the prices down very quickly.”
President Donald Trump has imposed a 50 percent tariff on Brazil, the world’s largest coffee exporter, and lower but still significant tariffs on other suppliers like Vietnam and Columbia, sending coffee prices higher in the United States.
Trump, in an interview Tuesday evening on Fox News, told host Laura Ingraham that he planned to reduce tariffs on coffee to bring down prices. “Coffee, we’re going to lower some tariffs. We’re going to have some coffee come in,” Trump said. “We’re going to take care of all of this stuff, very quickly, very easily.”
Comments on the Joint Review of USMCA Reaffirm the Importance of the Pact
As the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative considers whether the U.S. wants to continue the USMCA, it will evaluate more than 1,500 comments from farmers, manufacturers, retailers, civic society and broad business interests that operate in all three countries. Most commenters urged the administration to reaffirm the pact for another 16-year term. They also said Section 232 tariffs should be rolled back on goods that meet the USMCA rules of origin. Read the comments here.
Some Trade Deal Language Could Keep U.S.-Trade Partners from Making Competing Deals
A new provision tucked into two trade agreements President Donald Trump struck with Southeast Asian countries tries to keep them from making deals with U.S. rivals. The broadly written language seems to be aimed at China, but it dramatically expands the pool of countries that could be targeted.
The language in the new deals is similar to a provision the first Trump administration inserted into the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that was inked in 2018, which allowed the parties to terminate the agreement on six months’ notice if one country enters into a “free trade agreement with a non-market country.” At the time, Canada was attempting to negotiate a free-trade agreement with China.
Trade experts say the provision — which hasn’t appeared in earlier trade deals — is likely targeted at China, as the Trump administration looks to counter Beijing’s economic influence in Southeast Asia. An administration official, granted anonymity to discuss trade strategy, said they “expect future agreements to contain similar provisions to promote bilateral trade between parties.”
USTR Formally Suspends 301 Port-Fee
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the suspension of the action in the Section 301 Investigation of China’s Targeting of the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance. The action will be suspended for one year, and as of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on November 10, 2025.
China Restricts Exports of Chemicals Linked to Fentanyl Production
The Chinese government announced this week that it will restrict the export of some chemicals linked to the production of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl to the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
That announcement — which doesn’t specifically mention fentanyl — marks Beijing’s confirmation of the details of an accord between U.S. and Chinese negotiators to address China’s role in the U.S. opioid overdose epidemic that President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping signed in South Korea last month.
Exports to the U.S., Canada and Mexico of 13 specific precursor chemicals — including ethoxycarbonyl piperidone, benzyloxycarbonyl piperidone and acetyl-4-piperidon — “shall require a license application in accordance with the ‘Interim Regulations on the Administration of Export of Precursor Chemicals to Specific Countries,'” China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement Monday.
That statement follows a White House fact sheet issued last week asserting that Beijing will take long-anticipated steps to reduce the flow of precursor chemicals that Chinese exporters ship to Mexico, where cartels process it into fentanyl-like synthetic opioids.
Wyden Questions Reassignment of CBP Trade Staff
Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is raising red flags following a report that some employees focused on trade issues in CBP have been reassigned to support the administration’s broader immigration functions. “This abrupt realignment from CBP’s core trade functions may compound the harm caused by the Administration’s chaotic trade policy actions, which have upended global supply chains and raised prices for families and businesses across the country,” Wyden wrote in a letter to CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. Wyden noted that this comes as the agency is under strain following the “chaotic” August reversal of the de minimis trade provision, which allowed goods valued at $800 or less to enter the U.S. duty-free.
Wyden cited a Wall Street Journal report that said agents from Homeland Security Investigations, CBP officers, FBI officials and even U.S. Postal Service employees were reassigned from their regular duties to help the Trump administration meet its goal of deporting 3,000 unauthorized immigrants per day. “The cost to Americans of CBP pivoting away from its trade facilitation and enforcement functions could not come at a worse time,” Wyden added.
California Regulators and LA and Long Beach Approve Emissions Deal
Southern California air regulators approved an agreement with the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Friday that requires the region’s largest pollution sources to develop zero-emission infrastructure plans. South Coast Air Quality Management District board members voted to greenlight a contract hammered out by the agency, the nation’s busiest port complexes and the mayors of both cities.
The move comes after eight years of negotiations between regulators and port leadership over reducing emissions. The talks have been marred along the way by disputes over whether new rules would make the facilities less competitive and accusations that port officials had not negotiated in good faith.
Speeding up the transition away from diesel-powered ships, trucks and port equipment has long been a top goal for air regulators in Southern California, which consistently ranks among the most-polluted regions in the country and is not in compliance with federal standards for smog-forming nitrogen oxides. The region runs the risk that the Trump administration could withhold federal highway funding over the poor air quality.
The five-year deal requires the ports to create plans for boosting zero-emission vehicles and equipment and sets targets for how much new, cleaner technology will be adopted and when it will be operational.
AAEI Industry Insight: Is FTZ Right for Me?
Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) is one of the most powerful – and most overlooked – tools in importing and exporting at scale. In this article, Jeffrey J. Tafel, CAE, President of National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) outlines the benefits and processes in selecting a FTZ.
