Thirteen Republicans in the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., wrote a letter asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to increase trade engagement with countries like Uruguay, Paraguay, Guatemala, Ecuador and Colombia. The letter, sent Oct. 13, noted that while the U.S. is the biggest trading partner of Central American countries and Caribbean nations, China is the No. 1 trading partner off the continent for all but two countries in South America, and in many cases, such as Argentina, Chile and Brazil, their trade with China overshadows trade with their immediate neighbors. In South America, only Ecuador and Colombia buy and sell more to the U.S. than they do to China, and Colombia has a free trade agreement with the U.S.
President Joe Biden announced Oct. 13 that after administration officials negotiated for weeks, they convinced the Port of Los Angeles to operate 24/7, convinced the labor unions to staff those 60 extra hours, and got commitments from major shippers like Walmart, Samsung, FedEx and UPS to use the time, too.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., leads a group of progressive House members who blocked a vote on an infrastructure bill that would spend $17 billion on ports over 10 years. On a press call, she told reporters, "We must and we will achieve our goals of passing both (bills)," referring to the infrastructure bill that already passed the Senate, and a broader spending program that mostly addresses social, educational, health and climate spending. However, $3.5 billion of that broader "soft infrastructure" bill would also benefit ports as currently proposed, for electrifying port operations.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she talked about "ongoing efforts to address global overcapacity in the steel and aluminum sectors and shared challenges posed by non-market economies" when she met with her European Union counterpart on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Sorrento, Italy. The EU did not issue its own readout of the meeting, but Valdis Dombrovskis tweeted, "Met [the] USTR, Ambassador Tai, to continue our discussions on finding a settlement on the Trump steel & aluminium tariffs #232. The work continues." He has previously said that an agreement on Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum has to be reached by early November in order to prevent retaliatory tariffs from doubling on Dec. 1. Those retaliatory tariffs have hurt the export of American spirits.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., introduced a bill that would sanction two Chinese health officials that he says chose not to share information early in the pandemic that could have helped authorities respond. His Oct. 5 press release said, "The sanctions would remain in place until they allow an independent, unimpeded investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a potential origin for the COVID-19 virus." The bill is a companion to a Republican bill introduced in June with 27 co-sponsors.
Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said that while what he called the "food fight between Democrats" is preventing legislation from moving this year, "this next year would be an opportune time to have a conversation about [Section 232 reform] in a bipartisan way." Brady, who was responding to a question during a call with reporters Oct. 6, said he'd like to be a part of that conversation about the use of national security tariffs and Congress's role in setting tariffs.
Two Chinese scholars specializing in international trade said they found U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's Oct. 4 speech (see 2110040008) encouraging, even though she criticized Chinese adherence to market principles and the effect that has on companies around the world.
Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a bill that would require the president to impose sanctions on members of the Taliban who support any terrorist group in Afghanistan, who engage in international narcotics trafficking, or who engage in "serious human rights abuses." The three requirements would begin 90 days after passage, the Sept, 27 bill says. Twenty-six Republican senators co-sponsored the bill.
Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said he's had no consultation with staff or principals from the Commerce Committee or the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on how they would like to change their approach on tariffs on European steel and aluminum. The European Union and the U.S. have been negotiating over lifting 25% tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum imposed during the Trump presidency, ostensibly to protect national security. If the U.S. and the EU do not reach an agreement, retaliatory tariffs on spirits exports are scheduled to double, to 50%. "We’d love to have this conversation with the administration on how you’d tackle 232s and 301s," he said, particularly in a time when supply chains are strained and inflation is up. But Brady declined to say during a call with reporters on Sept. 29 whether his concerns about the drag on the economy from supply chain challenges and inflation mean that he would argue to lift the tariffs on the EU.
European Union Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters that because of the work that needs to happen within the EU to get it done before retaliatory tariffs are scheduled to double, the U.S. and the EU need to reach an agreement by the beginning of November. Tariffs on the retaliation list are supposed to double on Dec. 1. Dombrovskis said this on Bloomberg TV; he also suggested to reporters that the import and export monitoring that was part of the removal of steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico is something that the EU is open to.