Over the year since the European Union and the U.S. agreed to pursue trade talks, the two sides "have actually made some decent progress" on regulatory cooperation in pharmaceuticals and medical devices, but "where we are stuck is on industrial tariffs," said Sabine Weyand, director general for trade at the European Commission.
The House of Representatives intends to vote on Senate resolutions to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next week, but Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., acknowledged that these restrictions will not become law, because they do not have enough support to override a veto. The Senate vote was 53-45. He said the vote is still important to show that Congress disapproves of how the government of Saudi Arabia is conducting itself.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said that although under fast track authority the administration could send the implementing bill for the NAFTA rewrite on July 9, the administration will not be doing that. "There's respect for this legislative process and the importance of Pelosi involved this process... the White House is not going to do anything without consulting with her," he said. He referred to White House Chief Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow's comments earlier that morning about the administration's plans.
Leaders of the generally pro-trade New Democrat Coalition warned the U.S. trade representative not to send an implementing bill for the new NAFTA to Congress on July 9. Rep. Derek Kilmer, chairman of the New Dems, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, co-chairman of the group's trade task force, spoke to reporters July 8 about why they sent a letter that day to USTR warning him off.
Trade lawyers talking about changes to NAFTA's rule of origin said they're fairly optimistic the trade deal rewrite will be ratified in Congress in 2019. But aside from the auto sector, which has a multiyear transition period, they're concerned that by the time ratification comes, there won't be time for importers and exporters to adjust by Jan. 1, 2020, when the replacement agreement is supposed to be in force.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer said he thinks the House could be able to have a vote in the fall on the new NAFTA. Blumenauer, from Oregon and one of nine House Democrats who are tasked with negotiating changes to the deal with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, said he expects the group will meet with USTR "at least once a week." Speaking at a Washington International Trade Association event June 26, he joked that Lighthizer spends so much time meeting with House members and caucuses, "I think he travels the world just to get away from us." Lighthizer is on his way to Osaka, Japan, for the G-20 meeting. He met with the working group the afternoon before he left.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who's been working for months on a compromise bill to address national security tariffs, said that an introduction won't happen until after the August recess. "We're trying to get a consensus on [Section] 232s, that isn't the easiest thing," he said. "But we're making some progress." He said, speaking to reporters on June 19, that he'd had meetings on the bill that day.
Before the U.S.-China trade war began, all countries that exported goods to China faced an average 8 percent tariff, according to a recent analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. But now, U.S. exports to China are taxed on average at 20.7 percent, while German, Asian and Canadian producers are facing an average tariff of 6.7 percent.
While the Chinese have not levied tariffs on U.S. aircraft, the top manufactured good China imports from the U.S., that could change if President Donald Trump follows through on his May 5 threat to hike 10 percent tariffs to 25 percent, one expert believes. Edward Alden, a trade expert and professor at Western Washington University, said that the Chinese have been seriously negotiating for five months, and if the U.S. walks away, they will hunker down for a long, protracted trade war. They could levy tariffs on airplanes, increase customs hassles for those U.S. firms exporting goods to China and create geopolitical trouble for the U.S.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking in Beijing to a group of 5,000, including 37 countries' prime ministers, presidents and vice presidents, said that China will continue to reform its economy in a number of ways, and that it intends to increase imports of good and services. According to an official English translation of the April 26 speech, Xi said, "China is both a global factory and a global market. With the world's largest and fastest growing middle-income population, China has a vast potential for increasing consumption. To meet our people's ever-growing material and cultural needs and give our consumers more choices and benefits, we will further lower tariffs and remove various non-tariff barriers."