Commerce Seeks Comments on Section 232 Investigation into Robotics and Industrial Machinery Imports: On Friday, 26 September 2025, Commerce published a Federal Register Notice (FRN) opening a three-week period for comments regarding the Section 232 investigation into robotics and industrial machinery imports. Comments are due 17 October 2025. The scope of the investigation does not appear to target PMMI members imports of food processing and packaging machinery, but rather machines and tools possibly used for manufacturing PMMI members’ machines and equipment.
USMCA Review Will Focus More on Bilateral than Trilateral Trade: The United States expects negotiations on the future of USMCA to be conducted on a more bilateral basis as the US is seeking to address trade frictions with Canada and Mexico separately. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has indicated “…actual negotiations going forward will probably be… almost bilateral,” adding: “There are going to be certain issues [where] a trilateral solution might be helpful.”
IEEPA Plaintiffs Ask Supreme Court to Expand Tariff Hearing: On Thursday, 2 October, InsideTrade reported that states, private companies, and individuals challenging President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are asking the Supreme Court to give each set of plaintiffs a chance to present their own arguments at the 5 November hearing. The motion filed on 1 October states that splitting the arguments amongst the plaintiffs “will ensure that the various interests are adequately represented before the Court. It will also ensure that the fundamentally important statutory and constitutional arguments in this case are fully explored, and that the jurisdictional dispute is properly ventilated.” The day before the motion was filed, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer noted that the United States would use alternative legal measures to apply tariffs if IEEPA tariffs were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.
Trump Administration Will Continue Trade Negotiations During the Government Shutdown: The Trump Administration will continue trade policy work during the government shutdown as agency guidelines say that negotiations, tariff collections, and “national security” investigations are “necessary to the discharge of the President’s constitutional duties and powers”.
Status of US Bilaterial Negotiations and Discussions: Please see the chart below for the latest on how certain countries are engaging with the United States in effort to reduce reciprocal tariffs and conclude bilateral deals.
Trade Policy Actions by Other Countries
EU Proposes Doubling Tariff Rate on Steel Imports to 50%: The EU is planning to reduce by approximately half the volume for their imported steel quota and increase the over quota tariff to 50% in line with the US and Canada “to minimize the risk of trade diversion”. Official announcement is expected this week. PMMI members located in the EU and sourcing imported steel will likely pay higher duties going forward. Once announcement from the European Commission is published, we will share.
