In a think tank effort that seems to assume a change in Washington, though never explicitly says it, the Peterson Institute for International Economics says there should be a return to more conservative use of export controls and entity lists to manage the threat of Chinese access to advanced technology for nefarious purposes. Martin Chorzempa, a PIIE research fellow, discussed a memo he authored to a future Commerce undersecretary for export controls in the next administration, during an Oct. 22 webinar at PIIE.
One of the two finalists for the director-general position at the World Trade Organization said Oct. 20 that when trade ministers gather for the next ministerial -- which may happen in June next year -- they should agree on a process for reforming the dispute settlement system. That suggests there will be no binding dispute resolution for at least two years at the WTO, if not longer.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the trade facilitation agreement that the U.S. and Brazil signed Oct. 19 is very similar to the USMCA trade facilitation chapter, and that traders should expect more incremental progress in coming months. “There’s a lot more that needs to be done,” Lighthizer said during a U.S. Chamber of Commerce program Oct. 20. “We have ongoing negotiations on ethanol. Brazilians like to talk about sugar. There’s a variety of things in the agriculture area.”
A former negotiator on the phase one China deal, Clete Willems, said his goal in publishing a report on how to reform the World Trade Organization is to move the conversation beyond how to restore the status quo in Geneva.
A former U.S. ambassador to the European Union and the German envoy to the U.S. said a united front on China's trade distortions could make it more painful for that country to continue its current industrial policies. “With the rise of China and the relative decline of Western power it should be in our shared interest to use each other as an asset to leverage our power,” said Emily Haber, Germany's ambassador.
Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, told a business audience that his country and the U.S. have completed a trade facilitation agreement, an agreement on best regulatory practices, and an anti-corruption agreement. He said these treaties would “slash red tape and bring about even more growth to our bilateral trade with beneficial effects to the flow of investments as well.”
Even though companies that make cars in North America are going to have to change sourcing to meet stricter rules of origin under USMCA, the director of international public policy for Toyota and the head of Canada's auto parts trade group say they expect carmakers to do so to keep the tariff benefits. Toyota's Leila Afas noted that automakers don't have to comply with trade agreements to import, but said, “I believe many will choose to comply with USMCA.” Afas and others discussed USMCA issues during an Oct. 14 webinar hosted by Rice University.
The World Trade Organization announced that the European Union is entitled to hike tariffs on nearly $4 billion in U.S. goods due to the trade distorting effects of tax breaks for Boeing. The tariffs -- the levels of which have not been announced -- are not to go into effect immediately, but could affect civil aircraft, helicopters, tractors, chemicals, hazelnuts, wines, liquor, cotton and other products, according to a preliminary list of targets released last year.
CMA CGM, American President Lines, APL, and ANL Singapore are asking the Federal Maritime Commission for permission to retroactively apply service contract rates and terms to shipments received on or after Sept. 27 for a period of 60 days (see 2010090022). Their petition also is asking for the ability to retroactively apply tariff rates communicated to its customers but that have not been published because of “major system impacts due to the recent cyber-attack.” The FMC is asking for public comments on this request through Oct. 15.
A Brazilian government official said that a U.S.-Brazil agreement that covers trade facilitation, best regulatory practices and anti-corruption chapters is in legal scrub, and that should be done by mid-October. “We hope to have them signed this month,” said Yana Dumaresq, assistant deputy minister for foreign trade and international affairs. Joseph Semsar, the lead negotiator from the Commerce Department on this agreement, said that the two administrations are aligned, and “this is a unique opportunity to get things done that seemed unattainable.”