January 14, 2026 —
USTR Seeks Tariff Continuity If SCOTUS Rules Against the Administration
The U.S. trade representative told The Economist that the administration intends to reconstitute its tariff regime through other laws if the Supreme Court rules Trump did not have the authority to impose those duties under a 1977 emergency law.
“I think our goal is, if we have to find a way to set up a replacement system, would be to have as much continuity as possible,” Greer said in the interview, released last Tuesday. “There are certain things that are subject to tariffs, certain things that aren’t. Our goal would be to preserve that as much as possible.”
Greer also noted that as the tariffs have been implemented, the Trump administration has negotiated agreements “with a lot of countries where they’ve agreed to open their markets and they’ve agreed that we can have a certain tariff level against them.” Even if the Supreme Court rules against Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, “all of those agreements stay in place,” Greer said. That list includes deals with the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand, in addition to others, though many of them are only partially hashed out. He also suggested the current set of tariffs represents a new “trade peace” that the administration hopes will endure. At the same time, he reserved the U.S.’s right to threaten or impose new tariffs if it feels trade agreements are not working out as planned or if enforcement issues arise.
The Supreme Court did not issue a highly anticipated ruling this week in a case challenging President Donald Trump’s use of a 1977 emergency powers law to impose tariffs on almost every country in the world, leaving the future of the those duties up in the air for now.
Trump says any country doing business with Iran will face 25% U.S. tariff
President Donald Trump on Monday said any country doing business with Iran will face a 25% tariff “on any and all business being done with the United States of America.” That new tariff on imports from Iran’s trading partners is “effective immediately,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. There have been no CSMS messages issued. There has been no proclamation, executive order, or Federal Register notice.
While the 10 largest customers of Iranian exports are China, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Oman and Kuwait, there are five other countries that bought more than $100 million worth of goods from Iran in 2023, including Germany, Italy, two former Soviet Republics and Qatar, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. Another 29 countries bought at least $11 million worth of goods from Iran in 2023, including Japan, Canada, Australia, Kenya, Malaysia, Jordan and Lebanon.
Iran only sold more than $1 billion worth of goods to three countries — China, Turkey and India. Turkish products that are within the International Emergency Economic Powers Act scope currently face a 15% reciprocal tariff, Indian goods a 50% tariff, and Chinese goods within IEEPA’s scope, a 20% tariff.
USTR Undecided on USMCA Extension
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told lawmakers last week he is still mulling whether to recommend that President Donald Trump support a full 16-year renewal of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which faces a mandatory review in 2026.
Under the unique “sunset review” provision of the USMCA, all three countries must meet on July 1, 2026, to say whether they want to renew the pact for another 16 years. If one or more countries object, the pact would expire in 2036 unless negotiators are able to resolve any outstanding concerns in annual reviews over the next 10 years.
Any country also has the right to withdraw from the agreement with six months’ notice, an option that Greer has said remains on the table. However, lawmakers that attended Greer’s closed-door briefings this week said there was no discussion of withdrawing from the USMCA.
The sunset mechanism also requires Greer to report to Congress by early January on its plans for review, including whether the administration plans support renewal of the agreement.
Greer said he believed his meetings this week with House Ways and Means and Senate Finance fulfilled that requirement, but acknowledged that some members had expected a written report. In a compromise move, he said he would publicly release his opening statement to the committees.
Ambassador Greer said the U.S. has already made progress with Canada on some concerns, such as removing its digital services taxes and its retaliatory tariffs on more than $20 billion worth of U.S. exports. And, in another positive note, he said both Canada and Mexico have “expressed an interest in taking action on economic security concerns.”
Lawmakers said their closed-door meetings with Greer focused mostly on issues with the agreement that they want to see addressed — ranging from preventing China from dumping goods in Canada, to using the trade agreement to enforce environmental priorities.
Several Republican lawmakers said they do not want to see the U.S. withdraw from the agreement and were skeptical about the concept of negotiating independent bilateral agreements.
EU Postpone Decision on U.S. Trade Deal
The European Parliament’s leading trade lawmakers postponed a decision on whether to freeze a U.S. trade deal over Donald Trump’s threat to annex Greenland. Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs)are due to hold a vote on Jan. 26, laying out the European Parliament’s position on lifting tariffs on U.S. industrial goods — one of the key planks of a deal struck between Brussels and Washington last summer. But some MEPs, angry at Trump’s behavior, don’t want the vote to go ahead, thereby freezing the decision on lifting the tariffs.
But at a meeting of lawmakers leading on the topic, they decided to delay taking a decision on whether to postpone or go ahead with the vote, awaiting the outcome of high-stakes meetings between Washington, Nuuk and Copenhagen taking place later Wednesday.
House of Representatives passes AGOA, Haiti HOPE/HELP extensions
The House of Representatives voted to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) four months after the trade programs expired. The bill now moves to the Senate. Should the Senate pass the bills, they will be retroactively extended from the date they lapsed through the end of 2028.
STB Issues Proposed Shippers Rule
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) proposed a rule that would make it easier for shippers to hold railroads accountable in the event they are unhappy with their service. The STB announced Wednesday that it voted unanimously to repeal a regulation, dating to 1985, that requires shippers to demonstrate that railroads are participating in “anticompetitive conduct.”
The STB action would scrap a rule known as Part 1144 and turn back the clock to a 1980 law, the Staggers Rail Act. Over four decades have passed since Part 1144 was adopted; however, it has rarely been invokedand the STB has not provided relief to a single shipper under the rule.
