The Trump administration is revising its proposed port fees on Chinese-built vessels as it implements a sweeping Executive Order aimed at restoring American maritime strength. The administration reportedly plans to reduce the burden on exporters by basing fees largely on vessel capacity and easing charges on ships carrying U.S. agricultural exports such as soybeans and timber.

Sharing the dais with several other high-profile nominees, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration-designate Landon Heid appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, April 10.   His brief remarks included the suggestion that Commerce apply export controls to sanctioned firm's subsidiaries, as is done with OFAC Sanctions.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has published an updated Antiboycott Requester List, identifying foreign companies that have issued boycott-related requests in contravention of U.S. regulations. The update adds 30 new parties and removes 18 entities that certified they no longer include boycott-related terms in transactions involving U.S. persons.

President Trump signed an Executive Order today directing a full-scale effort to rebuild U.S. commercial shipbuilding and maritime labor capacity, citing national security risks from decades of decline.

President Trump Wednesday signed a sweeping executive order aimed at overhauling the U.S. foreign defense sales system, seeking to reduce delays and regulatory barriers in the sale of military equipment to international partners. The directive—“Reforming Foreign Defense Sales to Improve Speed and Accountability”—initiates a broad set of reforms to the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) processes, with the stated aim of improving delivery predictability, enhancing allied burden-sharing, and invigorating the domestic defense industrial base.

The President's discursive policymaking prowess was on full display this week.    Mr. Trump began holding firm on the "reciprocal" tariffs he proclaimed the week before, until relentless selling in the treasury market convinced Secretaries Bessent and Lutnick to sit him down and thumb out a reversal.

In a speech April 7th to the Hudson Institute, Council of Economic Advisors Chair Steven Miran argued that the United States has long borne an outsized cost in delivering what economists term “global public goods”—namely, international security and a stable financial system—and called for other nations to shoulder a the burden.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against five Iran-based entities and one individual for providing support to Iran’s nuclear program. Separately, OFAC sanctioned drug trafficker Jesus Alfredo Beltran Guzman, known as “El Mochomito.”

The Department of Finance Canada has announced that new retaliatory tariffs on certain U.S. automobile imports will take effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 9, 2025. The measures follow the United States’ imposition of tariffs targeting the Canadian auto industry, which Canada has deemed unjustified.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Final Rule restricting the export of sensitive U.S. data to foreign entities took effect April 8, 2025. The rule targets data transactions involving individuals or entities linked to designated “countries of concern”—including China (with Hong Kong and Macau), Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.

President Trump has ordered a new national security review of Nippon Steel’s proposed $14 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, reviving a high-profile deal that had been blocked earlier this year by former President Joe Biden. The White House announced Monday that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) will reassess the transaction to determine whether it poses a threat to national security. The move grants the administration the flexibility to negotiate terms that could enable the completion of the deal, which would bring the storied American steelmaker under Japanese ownership.

A new report warns that Chinese state-supported e-commerce giants pose a strategic threat to American technological leadership, economic competitiveness, and consumer protection, and that it is by design. Writtten by Eli Clements at the ITIF's Center for Data Innovation, the report—How China’s State-Backed E-Commerce Platforms Threaten American Consumers and U.S. Technology Leadership—details how Chinese platforms such as Temu, SHEIN, and AliExpress are gaining global market share through extensive government support, including subsidies, regulatory advantages, and access to state-run logistics and data systems.

Canada has requested WTO dispute consultations with the United States concerning US measures imposing a 25 percent duty on automobiles and automobile parts from Canada. The request was circulated to WTO members on 7 April.

Bipartisan  discomfort with the President's tariff policies is prompting further moves to bring the authority to assess such levies back to the constitutionally appointed branch. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Trade Review Act of 2025, bipartisan legislation that would restore congressional oversight over President Trump’s tariff taxes. The bill aims to bring stability and accountability to U.S. trade policy by reestablishing limits on the president’s ability to unilaterally impose tariffs without the approval of Congress.

The Trump administration has imposed a 25% tariff on all imported canned beer and empty aluminum cans beginning Friday April 4, according to a notice issued by the Department of Commerce. Modelo—the top-selling beer in the U.S.—is primarily distributed in cans.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) appears to be planning to keep at least some of the Technical Advisory Committees (TACs)  which have long defined the collaborative nature of  export enforcement and trade security.  The candor and efficacy of the new regime may be different though.

Citing the "tremendous progress" his team has made, President Trump issued a second executive order delaying the enforcement of a nationwide ban on TikTok, despite the statutory limit allowing only a single extension. The new order, signed on April 4, extends the ban’s implementation by another 75 days, exceeding the authority outlined in the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA).

Perkins Coie has launched a dedicated website, perkinscoiefacts.com, outlining their response to the unconstitutional Executive Order targeting the firm.  The site houses statements, filings, and other information about their response to the Order.

In a rare and possibly unprecedented action, former President Donald Trump issued a full presidential pardon to a corporation, HDR Global Trading, operator of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX. The pardon was granted alongside clemency for three of the company’s co-founders and one employee, all convicted of violating the Bank Secrecy Act.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to request that Mexico review …