Lack of coordination between the U.S. and the EU on trade policy will make it tougher to confront the economic threat posed by China, experts warned at a conference co-hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick vigorously defended the prospect of imposing tariffs on all goods from places like the EU, Japan or South Korea during his confirmation hearing Jan. 29, saying those countries deserve it, as they either use food safety rules to protect their farmers, put up barriers to American car imports, or undercut American manufacturing with their exports of manufactured goods.

When the House Ways and Means Committee asked all House members for their opinions on what should belong in the tax cut bill the Republicans are shaping, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., used the opportunity to talk about both taxes and trade.

Kevin Brady, who led the House Ways and Means Committee when Congress passed the Trump tax cut package, told reporters that Washington insiders expect "the [next Trump] administration will reinstate [Section] 301 investigations" that were begun when countries moved to collect digital services taxes from U.S. tech firms.

Donald Trump's return to the White House brings a "lack of predictability," Baker McKenzie attorneys said during a webinar last week on how threatened tariffs could affect countries around the globe.

Members of the House Ways and Means Committee majority, who will lead the extension or expansion of the first Trump term income tax cuts, are expressing some hesitancy about using tariffs as a pay-for.

European collaboration with the U.S. on trade-related policies and other issues likely will become more difficult when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, a former Swedish government official said Nov. 7.

Although the EU ambassador emphasized all the ways that the EU and the U.S. coordinate on trade, a panelist discussing the future of the U.S.-EU trade relationship demonstrated the ways the two economic powers talk past each other at times.

The Aluminum Association is pleased by the hike in Section 301 tariffs on aluminum products -- even though it applies to more products than it wishes were covered -- and says Mexico's reporting is helping with trade remedies covering Chinese, Russian and Belarussian steel.

Donald Trump, in a lengthy interview with Bloomberg's editor-in-chief, tripled down on his tariff policy, calling the word tariff "the most beautiful word in the dictionary," and saying that his plan of a 10% tariff on all non-Chinese imports is not nearly enough to reverse factory closures.