Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who is retiring from Congress at year's end, told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that he was disappointed there were no trade items in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science (CHIPS) Act. "But I’m ready to negotiate a grand bargain on trade in this lame-duck session," he said in a video address Oct. 17. Portman was scheduled to participate in a roundtable of former U.S. trade representatives but was traveling overseas on an official congressional trip.
The Alliance for Trade Enforcement, a coalition of trade associations and business groups, says the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity needs effective dispute settlement to fulfill its promise for American exporters.
U.S. politicians are sending a mixed message on trade with Taiwan, experts said during an event hosted by the Hudson Institute, a right-of-center think tank mostly focused on foreign policy.
The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said the administration has "a strong case for what they're doing" in restricting U.S. technology that aids the Chinese semiconductor industry (see 2210070049), but he questions how effective it will be unless the Netherlands and Japan go along.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai drew a distinction between 35% tariffs on Russian goods, which she said are designed to punish that country's war of aggression, and 25% (or 7.5%) tariffs on Chinese goods, which she said are not punishing tariffs.
The Federal Maritime Commission released a notice of proposed rulemaking further refining prohibited practices for demurrage and detention, which is required under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA).
Florida lawmakers who have asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to start a Section 301 investigation on unfair support for Mexican produce exports are forum shopping after "prior U.S. government investigations have found that Mexican imports have not injured that segment of the U.S. industry," wrote 24 trade groups, mostly agriculture exporters, but also the National Retail Federation and Retail Industry Leaders Association.
The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and 36 other House Republicans are calling on the administration to include Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, to expeditiously finalize provisions in the U.S.-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework, and to negotiate a free trade agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible. The bill, introduced Sept. 28, is called the Taiwan Policy Act. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas said, "Deterrence is key to stopping the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] from provoking a conflict that would seriously harm U.S. national security.”
African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits for Kenya need to continue as any trade partnership is formed, commenters said, especially the third-country fabric rule of origin.
Made in China 2025, China's public document of its ambitions for technology dominance, came out of Chinese officials' anxiety about their tech vulnerability due to integration of U.S. and Chinese supply chains, panelists said during a Peterson Institute for International Economics webcast Sept. 23 featuring PIIE scholars and an expert on China's foreign economic policy from the University of Maryland, Margaret Pearson.