During a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing yesterday, at which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was testifying, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) raised the issue of legislation on Chinese outbound investment restrictions, and discussed with Bessent how Congress and the administration could work together on this.

In an interview yesterday with Fox News, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer pushed back on the idea that President Trump's trade agenda was all about China, and instead emphasized the administration's broader concerns with trade deficits and U.S. manufacturing.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration announced that it would be conducting a national security investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 related to imports of critical minerals and their derivative products.

Yesterday, the Trump administration posted notices indicating that it would be proceeding with national security investigations under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 related to imports of semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment and of pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients.

In a significant scaling back of its "reciprocal tariffs," the Trump administration has exempted key electronics products such as smartphones and semiconductors from these tariffs, although U.S. officials also made clear that tariffs on these products were coming soon through a different statutory process.

In another escalation of the trade war, President Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese imports again, with the current additional tariff rate on covered Chinese imports at 104% as of April 9.

A public interest law firm has filed the first lawsuit against the Trump administration's recent tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), targeting the tariffs imposed in February and March on Chinese imports.