The United Kingdom and Japan officially signed a trade agreement (see 2009110022) that will take effect when the U.K. leaves the European Union Jan. 1, 2021. The U.K. on Oct. 23 issued a summary of benefits for U.K. businesses under the deal and a parliamentary report on maintaining the trade relationship after Brexit. Along with reducing tariffs, the U.K. said the deal addresses items including intellectual property rights, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, dispute settlement and customs facilitation.

Mongolia will officially join the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement in January 2021, benefiting from reduced-tariff trade with China, Bangladesh, India, South Korea, Laos and Sri Lanka, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in an Oct. 26 notice. China said Mongolia will reduce tariffs on 366 items, according to an unofficial translation of the notice, including “aquatic products,” vegetables, fruits, oils, certain chemicals, woods, cotton, yarn and machinery.

A recent Congressional Research Service report on agricultural gains in the Japan mini-deal said that while it does match the Trans-Pacific Partnership in many ways, there are some significant shortfalls, including products under tariff-rate quotas in the broader multilateral deal that aren't in the mini-deal.

Talks toward a comprehensive trade agreement with the United Kingdom would likely continue under a Joe Biden administration, though when a deal could be reached is unclear, K&L Gates partner Stacy Ettinger said during a webinar on how trade policy would change if there is an administration change after the election, or progress if there is a second Trump administration. Ettinger, a staffer for Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., before joining the private sector, was joined by former White House trade staffer Clete Willems, now at Akin Gump, during a webinar Oct. 20 hosted by American University's law school.

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 bipartisan letter from 33 House members representing pecan-growing states asks U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to argue for lower tariffs on U.S. pecans imported by India as part of an agreement to reinstate that country's participation in the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. The Oct. 15 letter, led by Georgia Reps. Austin Scott (R) and Sanford Bishop (D), said the 36% tariff on pecans makes it difficult for American producers to compete in the market.

The United Kingdom completed its second round of trade negotiations with Australia (see 2006170014) and plans to hold the third round in November, the U.K. said Oct. 12. The U.K. called the talks “productive” and said both countries have committed to “removing trade barriers and creating new opportunities for business.” Negotiators discussed a range of trade issues, including rules of origin, the role of state-owned companies, intellectual property, trade remedies and technical barriers to trade.

The European Union and the U.S. should negotiate a limited trade deal on medical supplies and equipment, and environmental goods and services that is open to other World Trade Organization members that agree to the commitments, according to a think tank report issued Oct. 6. The German Marshall Fund of the United States also called for consultation between the EU and the U.S. on financial sanctions on third countries when those sanctions “will have an adverse impact on alliance partners,” and it said those sanctions should have limits.

China and Norway held another round of free trade agreement discussions (see 2009110008), with China again pushing for faster negotiations to help mitigate trade impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, an Oct. 7 notice from China’s commerce ministry said, according to an unofficial translation. The two sides discussed trade remedies, intellectual property issues, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and trade disputes, China said. “The two sides believe that speeding up negotiations on the free trade agreement is very important for the two countries to jointly fight the” pandemic, the notice said. “The two countries pledged to end the negotiations as soon as possible.”

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.