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.”
Fifty senators, including 42 of 53 Republicans, wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer this week, asking that the administration “begin the formal process of negotiating a comprehensive trade agreement with Taiwan.” The first step of the formal process would be notifying Congress, then soliciting input into negotiating priorities.
The U.S.-Japan mini-deal is not consistent with World Trade Organization rules, a former White House trade negotiator said, so the two sides mentioned a future phase two deal to cover substantially all trade to convince Japan's parliament to pass the accord. Because of the way the deal was structured, with small tariff reductions for Japanese exporters, it did not require a vote in Congress, Clete Willems, speaking recently on a webinar for University of Nebraska students, said. In calling the mini-deal phase one, “I think both sides were playing it cute, to be honest,” Willems, now at Akin Gump, said. He said Japan was not interested in a comprehensive bilateral trade deal, because it still wants the U.S. to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
A lead negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership released a paper arguing that reentering the rebranded Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TPP is still the best way to deal with China's trade distorting practices, but her paper, and speakers on a Sept. 30 webinar, revealed the many barriers to reentry.
The long-awaited World Trade Organization decision on how much in tariffs the European Union can use to retaliate for Boeing subsidies has been sent to the parties, Reuters is reporting, and that amount is $4 billion worth of goods. Reuters said the EU is unlikely to impose tariffs before the U.S. election in November.
Mexico's cabinet members in charge of implementing labor law changes and managing the USMCA more broadly said they are helping the private sector evaluate whether businesses could be a target of the rapid response mechanism, and they are working on the four-year process of democratizing labor unions in the country. Labor Secretary Luisa Maria Alcalde de Lujan said new laws include eliminating the former arbitration system, which was part of the executive branch, and creating a system of labor judges.
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.