House Select Committee on China Republicans wrote to President Joe Biden, asking him to make human rights and military demands of Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which will happen Nov. 15-17.
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.
The chairman and top Democrat on the House Select Committee on China asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to consider launching a new Section 301 investigation for autos, in order to examine the harm that China's subsidization and technology transfer practices could do if Chinese electric vehicles start entering the U.S. in large numbers.
The New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of pro-free trade Democrats, publicly released a letter to the president asking him to change course on trade, and work on traditional free trade agreements that lower tariffs and go through congressional approval. President Joe Biden has declined to work on any trade-liberalizing FTAs, saying that deals that can be negotiated more quickly that address supply chains, trade facilitation and other non-tariff barriers are more fit for today's challenges.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and the top Republican on the panel, Sen. Mike Crapo, are asking CBP to explain how it uses AI in both trade enforcement and trade facilitation, with detailed questions on where it's used, how it's validated and whether the agency allows importers and exporters to challenge a decision that is based on AI.
NEW YORK -- The chair of the committee that puts together the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list told an audience from the apparel industry that the process is no "rubber stamp," and is instead a "meaningful process" involving investigations by agencies on the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force.
NEW YORK -- Apparel industry lobbyist David Spooner, speaking at the U.S. Fashion Industry Association annual conference, said employees of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have indicated to him that the office "might actually sunset some of the tariffs," and that importers will be able to apply for a new product exclusion. "Hopefully this is the case," he added.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who earlier said the priority should be renewing the African Growth and Opportunity Act "as soon as possible and for a lengthy period," rather than making reforms to the trade preference program, has now put out a "discussion draft" that lays out some reform proposals.
If a bill that unanimously passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee becomes law, CBP's Office of Trade would get rid of these job descriptions -- Import Specialist, Entry Specialist, National Account Manager, International Trade Specialist, Drawback Specialist and National Import Specialist -- and combine those duties all under the job of Global Trade Specialist. CBP has been asking for the change for about five years, according to a former government official now working in trade.
Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on China, said that policymaking around economic competition with China is "messy."
Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., introduced a bill that would require public disclosure of air cargo, truck and rail manifests, not just ocean shipments. Manifests usually include the name and address of the shipper, a cargo description, number of packages and gross weight, name of the carrier, port of exit, destination port and country destination.