A task force led by Republican House members recommended more trade agreements, engagement at the World Trade Organization, and “a strategic plan for Phase Two negotiations” with China to address distorting subsidies, dominance of state-owned enterprises that dictate the terms of trade and data, and forced tech transfer and joint venture requirements. It also said the U.S. should be aggressive in enforcing the China phase one agreement, particularly on forced tech transfer, intellectual property and barriers to agriculture imports.
As trade and labor attorneys wait to see which company is the target of a promised AFL-CIO rapid response complaint, Warren Payne, a senior adviser for Mayer Brown's public policy and international trade practices, said there can be informed speculation on who might be first.
European Union Director General for Trade Sabine Weyand said the EU has made another offer to settle the Boeing-Airbus dispute. “There's a lot we need to do to calm down the tensions in our relationship,” she said during a Sept. 15 webinar hosted by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She pointed to the deal on lobster tariffs as good but small. “It's the first tariff liberalization we have done in 20 years” between the U.S. and EU, she noted.
The 10% tariffs on Canadian non-alloyed unwrought aluminum will be refunded back to Sept. 1, and the tariffs won't return unless Canadian exporters exceed either 70,000 tons or 83,000 tons in that category (see 2009150040), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on Sept. 15. The office said the limits start at 83,000 for the current month, then go to 70,000, then back to 83,000, then back to 70,000 for December. USTR did not say the tariffs would definitely return if Canadian exporters exceed these numbers by at least 5%, and suggested that if Canadian exporters reduced the next month's shipments by the same amount of the overage, that would satisfy USTR.
Brazil will keep its tariff rate quota on U.S. ethanol exports steady over the next 90 days, as the two countries negotiate how to “improve market access” for ethanol and sugar in the U.S. and in Brazil. They will also consider liberalizing corn imports in the two countries. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced the negotiations after the close of business Sept. 11, and the 90-day timeline started Sept 14. The ethanol market has been hurt by the reduction in driving due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the changes to de minimis for Canada and Mexico have been heavily discussed, Doug Band, the Canada Border Services Agency's director general of trade and anti-dumping, directed traders to the revisions' finer points during a CBP Virtual Trade Week seminar on the USMCA, known as CUSMA in Canada.
Market access negotiations needed to return India to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program may be mostly “sorted out,” India's Economy Minister Piyush Goyal said in a speech to the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum Sept. 1. His office summarized some points about the deal, which was described as foundational, in a series of tweets. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer “and I agreed that we can look finalising before the election, but otherwise soon after the election,” he said. “The entire package is nearly ready and can be finalised at any time. India is open to signing tomorrow on what we have agreed on.”
Export compliance is never going to be perfect, panelists said, but with constant education, companies can ensure that their mistakes only warrant warning letters, not fines. The American Association of Exporters and Importers held a panel Sept. 1 about how export compliance plays out in the real world.
During the monthly Dispute Settlement Body meeting at the World Trade Organization, the European Union said it adopted “additional and extraordinary” compliance measures by withdrawing all the remaining subsidies for Airbus on Aug. 21, and they said that was “substantially in excess” of what's required by the WTO rules. They said they did this in order to convince the U.S. to withdraw its tariffs on European goods, and with the intention that they would not impose tariffs over Boeing subsidies, after a negotiated settlement. “It is not in the interests of anyone that the European Union and the United States now proceed to, or continue, mutually assured retaliation, and certainly not in the current economic climate,” they said.
Twenty-three senators from both political parties urged U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to press Canada to uphold its promises to give U.S. dairy exporters more market access. In a letter, released by Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., Aug. 26, they said that they agree with concerns about enforcement of USMCA dairy provisions expressed in a July letter sent by House members (see 2007020040), and that they are concerned that Canada's plans to fill its quotas are not consistent with those provisions. “Canada must not be permitted to effectively recreate the harmful impacts of Canada’s highly trade-distortive Classes 6 and 7 milk pricing programs,” the Aug. 25 letter said. “Canada must ... clearly establish prices for any new classes based on the end use of dairy products, and ensure that export surcharges for certain dairy products are implemented properly.”