A dispute panel ruled that Mexico's ban on genetically modified white corn, along with its intention to phase out GMO yellow corn for industrial foods and animal feed, violate the NAFTA successor agreement, because they "are not based on relevant international standards, guidelines or recommendations, or on an assessment, as appropriate to the circumstances, of the risk to human, animal, or plant life or health," and Mexico didn't conduct its own documented risk assessment, or base the decree on science.
Donald Trump's return to the White House brings a "lack of predictability," Baker McKenzie attorneys said during a webinar last week on how threatened tariffs could affect countries around the globe.
President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he will block the purchase of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, though it's possible President Joe Biden will take care of that before Trump is inaugurated.
The former chief of staff to then-U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been chosen for USTR in Donald Trump's second administration.
More than 40 members of Congress are asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to push back against a Colombian plan to investigate U.S. corn subsidies. The letter, led by Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Reps. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and Dan Kildee, D-Mich., noted that Colombia found that U.S. milk powder exports were subsidized to the extent that countervailing duties were warranted, and "imposed punitive tariffs."
Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Bárcena said that she has been told that the U.S. will not comply with the panel ruling that said that rollup was understood to be part of the automotive rule of origin (see 2403070067), and she said that is undermining USMCA. She said that's because both the Republicans and the Democrats are fighting for the political support of the United Autoworkers and Teamsters. (The autoworkers' union characterizes rollup as watering down the requirement for North American content in vehicles).
A hearing about the Time to Choose Act, a bipartisan bill that would ban consultants and other service providers from working both with the U.S. government and Chinese-owned companies, Senate Homeland Security Committee ranking member Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he agreed with a witness who said it could create a slippery slope.
Nazak Nikakhtar, acting head of the Bureau of Industry and Security during the Trump administration, blamed the deep state for a lack of urgency in confronting China, during a podcast interview with China Talk. Nikakhtar did not use that term, but said that it was hard for Commerce Department career officials to shift their thinking from promoting exports of goods to restricting exports or investment. Nikakhtar was previously a civil servant herself, working on antidumping and countervailing duty cases and negotiations with China.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank's "Trade Guys" podcast said that the EU's tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (see 408200020) "is sort of a preview of coming attractions."
A bipartisan pair of senators fleshed out a trade facilitation framework released in early June (see 2406100015) with legislative text that authorizes spending for several trade-related initiatives, including ones that would create a true single window, modernize ACE and try to reduce penalties for minor export filing errors.