Nicole Bivens Collinson

For a comprehensive background on the issues discussed today, please visit strtrade.com. [on-hold music] Today is Thursday, October the first, twenty twenty-six.

I'm Nicole Bivens Collinson, a managing principal and operating committee member at Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

Congress is revisiting a familiar question: On which critical infrastructure goods does the United States still depend for imports, and which could realistically be made here? HR seventeen twenty-one, the Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act, would direct the Commerce Department to study products used in the nation's sixteen designated critical infrastructure sectors that are in high demand but imported because of US manufacturing materials or supply chain constraints.

The covered sectors include systems like energy, transportation, communications, water, and manufacturing.

Today is Wednesday, September 30, 2026.

I'm Nicole Bivens Collinson, a Managing Principal and Operating Committee member at Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

As I speak, U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer is chairing the G20 Trade Ministerial Conference in Milwaukee.

The Trump administration may be cool towards most international forum, but it is making room for the G20, which the United States currently chairs.

Today is Tuesday, September the 29th, 2026.

I'm Nicole Bivens Collinson, a Managing Principal and Operating Committee member at Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

For an administration that is hyper-focused on trade and protecting intellectual property, imagine my surprise when we woke up Monday morning to the USTR's version of 30 for 30.

If you don't know, ESPN has a sport documentary program called 30 for 30.

Today is Monday, September the 28th, 2026.

I'm Nicole Bivens-Collinson, Managing Principal and Operating Committee Member at Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

If you're hoping to stock up on Canadian ice wine or Labatt Blue, the clock is ticking.

You have until midnight tonight.

Today is Thursday, September 24, 2026.

I'm Nicole Bivens Collinson, a Managing Principal and Operating Committee Member at Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

On September 18, the House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 10346, the Stop China's Exploitation of Congolese Children and Adult Forced Labor through Cobalt Mining Act.

by a large bipartisan vote, and it put cobalt in DC's crosshairs.

Today is Tuesday, September the 22nd, 2026.

I'm Nicole Bivens Collinson, a managing principal and operating committee member at Sandler, Travis and Rosenberg.

Where's the beef? Better yet, where's it from? That's the question Senator Thune, Republican from North Dakota and others want answered.

The Senate Agriculture Committee finally advanced the Farm Bill after Senator McConnell from Kentucky returned and broke a deadlock.

Today is Monday, September 21, 2026.

I'm Nicole Bivens Collinson, a Managing Principal and Operating Committee member at Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

Did you miss me? Last week, I finally made it to the WTO public forum in Geneva, my first despite nearly 40 years in trade.

Geneva also sent me down memory lane.

Today is Thursday, September 10, 2026.

I'm Nicole Bivens Collinson, a Managing Principal and Operating Committee member at Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

Recently, I discussed the lack of a timely resolution for three pending investigations under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, and the problems caused by that uncertainty.

An investigation under Section 232 of drones, also called unmanned aircraft systems or UASs, was announced on July 1st of 2025.

Today is Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

I'm Nicole Bivens Collinson, a Managing Principal and Operating Committee member at Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

Canada's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods took effect at midnight today.

In the July 21 edition of Two Minutes in Trade, I questioned whether the President could impose Section 338 tariffs against Canada without first following the statute's process.