U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, speaking at the University of Chicago, sidestepped a question about whether the administration would change the Section 301 tariffs, saying that although "there's a lot of drama and emotion around tariffs," the China tariffs are "the least interesting aspect of the management of our trade and economic relationship."
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
Because the FDA is not able to inspect foreign pharmaceutical factories with enough frequency -- and because the quality of those inspections is compromised by several factors -- some suggest that more imported drugs should be inspected at the border to ensure quality.
Automakers and their suppliers are telling the Biden administration in comments submitted ahead of an upcoming report that not having a form for certificate of origin has paradoxically made compliance more difficult. They also said that companies are having a difficult time certifying how much workers in the supply chain earn, and that the absence of final USMCA regulations are all problems for trade compliance in the more than three years since USMCA took effect.
Lori Wallach, a long-time free-trade skeptic, urged listeners to her Rethink Trade podcast to call their members of Congress and say: "I am scared silly about the abuse of this outrageous de minimis loophole. What is the congressman going to do to close this loophole?"
Human Rights Watch says that "some car manufacturers in China have succumbed to government pressure to apply weaker human rights and responsible sourcing standards at their Chinese joint ventures than in their global operations," and argues that car companies should disengage from all suppliers that source aluminum from Xinjiang, and should map aluminum supply chains back to the bauxite mines, whether for aluminum ingots or semi-fabricated aluminum.
In a party-line vote, the House Homeland Security Committee voted to advance articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., along with Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and two California Democrats, announced they are launching a caucus to push for boosting agricultural exports and knocking down trade barriers in ag.
An analysis of how the stricter rule of origin for auto imports has been implemented -- including the unprecedented labor value content element -- praised coordination among the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Labor Department, CBP and other agencies with expertise, but noted that final regulations have been held up because the U.S. has not reached a final resolution in the dispute it lost at a USMCA panel.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas directed CBP and Homeland Security Investigations to "provide him with a comprehensive enforcement action plan in 30 days" to protect domestic textile interests. The announcement, after a meeting with domestic textile mill owners who asked the government to step up free trade agreement enforcement and Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act apparel enforcement and to end de minimis sales, also says that report should include "a determination whether current trade law provides adequate authorities to solve the core issues."
The U.S. and the EU held the fifth meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council in Washington on Jan. 30, where the two sides again committed to increasing trade and cooperating on economic security and emerging technology issues, according to a European Commission readout of the meeting. The commission said the EU and the U.S. agreed to “explore ways to facilitate trade in goods and technologies that are vital for the green transition” and strengthen approaches to investment screening, export controls, outbound investment and “dual-use innovation.”