The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative received nearly 1,497 comments from the public by the January 17th deadline as part of its review of the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports. The review is required by law and covers all four lists subject to the tariffs. Lists 1, 2 and 3, with a total of roughly 6,800 products listed, have a 25% tariff rate on imports from China, while List 4a has about 3,200 Chinese imports subject to a 7.5% tariff rate. 

After several days of will they or won’t they, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives elected a new Speaker and began the process of organizing the lower chamber in this 118th Congress. The question now is, what next? Most expect an initial period of relative quiet in January before the storm of hearings, investigations and accusations begin by the spring.

On Dec. 20, 2022, members of Congress released a bipartisan $1.7 trillion FY 2023 federal government spending bill that increases funding for both defense and non-defense programs. President Biden is expected to sign a final package to fund the government through Sept. 30, 2023. However, businesses may focus on what the bill omitted rather than what lawmakers included.

While far from a Trump-style trade war, President Biden and the U.S. Congress are walking a fine line after the new electric-vehicle subsidy law went into effect on Aug. 16, 2022. The Inflation Reduction Act provides a $7,500 combined tax credit for electric vehicles manufactured in North America. This change reduced the number of current models eligible for the credit from more than 60 to fewer than 20. 

Like it or hate it, this 117th U.S. Congress has been anything but a “do-nothing Congress” as President Truman described the legislative branch in 1948. Lawmakers passed bipartisan infrastructure legislation and bipartisan semiconductor manufacturing law. Democrats passed the largely partisan American Rescue Plan Act and the fully partisan Inflation Reduction Act. These four bills alone represent over $3.5 trillion in new federal spending. And they’re not done yet.

While Election Day might feel like Groundhog Day to some, the candidates and issues on the ballot today, November 8, will affect the future of every business. Your vote is not just for Republicans or Democrats, but for the policy an individual may champion once in office. 

On October 12, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced it will open an electronic portal on November 15 to accept public input about the effectiveness of the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports. The federal government is taking this step as part of the required four-year review of the tariff actions in the Section 301 investigation initiated by the previous administration to counter China’s intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer.

Members of Congress left for the campaign trail on September 30, passing a bill to temporarily fund the federal government just hours prior to a midnight government shutdown. The temporary spending measure funds government operations through December 16, delaying substantive legislation until December.

On September 7, the U.S. Department of Energy released its “Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap,” which identifies four pathways to reduce industrial emissions from five manufacturing industries: chemical, petroleum refining, iron and steel, food and beverage, and cement. The four pathways include: energy efficiency; industrial electrification; low-carbon fuels, feedstocks and energy sources (LCFFES); and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).

On the heels of the major climate and energy bill being signed into law in August 2022, the EPA recently sent to the White House for their formal review several major environmental regulations prior to their publications. Among those rules under review include the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Particulate Matter (PM), where the EPA says that “information indicates that the current standards may not be adequate to protect public health and welfare, as required by the Clean Air Act.”