The European Union is dropping the anti-subsidy investigation into imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron and non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in Turkey, the bloc announced in a May 27 decision. The original petitioner, the European Steel Association, withdrew its complaint against the products. The investigation, which began June 12, 2020, is ending without any anti-subsidy measures, the EU said, noting the probe “did not bring to light any considerations showing that a continuation of the case would be in the Union interest.”
Export controls over 3D-printed guns were moved from the Commerce Department to the State Department following a court’s decision this week to officially waive a preliminary injunction that had blocked the transfer (see 2105030021).
The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade launched a review of ongoing tariff measures against the U.S., which originally sought to respond to the Section 232 tariffs on British steel and aluminum. The U.K. wants to tailor any future response to the American tariffs to “UK interests,” a May 24 news release said. The consultation closes July 5, the agency said. In response to the Section 232 action, the U.K. instituted restrictive measures against trade in products such as whiskey, motorcycles and tobacco, but may be considering a change to “deescalate trade tensions,” it said.
The Senate’s China competition bill will now include legislation introduced by two senators earlier this year aimed at securing U.S. leadership in emerging technologies. Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said their National Strategy to Ensure American Leadership Act will be included in the Endless Frontier Act, which is expected to see a vote before the Senate soon (see 2105130025). The two senators’ original bill called for the Commerce Department to work with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to identify the 10 most critical emerging technology challenges facing the U.S. and recommend steps to ensure U.S. leadership in those technologies. Commerce is in the middle of crafting a series of export controls over emerging and foundational technologies (see 2105040063 and 2103190037).
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is no longer restricting exports of four categories of personal protective equipment and other items used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency announced May 19. FEMA said its restrictions -- originally announced in April 2020 (see 2004080018) and extended in December (see 2012300017) -- no longer apply to industrial N95 respirators, certain surgical masks, certain piston syringes and certain hypodermic single lumen needles. Other export restrictions still apply, the agency said, including for surgical, single-use N95 respirators, and certain nitrile gloves and surgical gowns.
The Philippines recently lowered tariffs and increased its quota volumes for pork due to “surging” pork prices caused by the African swine fever, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a May 18 report. The measures “significantly” lowered the most favored nation tariff rates on fresh, chilled and frozen pork from the original 30% in-quota and 40% out-quota rates. The report includes a table outlining the new in-quota and out-quota tariff rates, which are expected to remain in effect for one year.
China has reached out to several members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in the hopes of joining the trade agreement that was originally created to exclude it, Bloomberg reported May 17. Officials from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and possibly others have had talks with the Chinese about the agreement initiated by the U.S. to balance China's growing power. President Donald Trump pulled out of the CPTPP in 2017; Japan subsequently took over and concluded negotiations the following year. China would be the largest economy in the pact if it were to join but faces an uphill battle as views of China have become increasingly negative in CPTPP member nations, the report noted.
Mexico and Canada emphasized how the COVID-19 pandemic has proven the need for interlinked supply chains, but U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai emphasized supply chains' downside as she, Mexico's economy minister and Canada's trade minister sat down to the first Free Trade Commission meeting of the USMCA. Tai said, "Not only have we discovered the fragility of our supply chains, but we have just begun to appreciate the degree to which they run counter to our collective goals of ensuring that workers within North America, and outside it, are paid a fair wage, in a safe workplace."
Former Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiator Wendy Cutler told an audience for an Atlantic Council webinar that the U.S. cannot rejoin even a renegotiated TPP in the next two years, and maybe not during the next four. Cutler, a vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said that the administration should try to ink mini-deals with TPP countries on digital trade, like it did with Japan, and said that maybe there can be coordination on supply chains or climate and trade. Cutler was also chief negotiator on the Korea free trade agreement.
After the European Union announced May 17 that it will not double retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports on June 1, exporters expressed relief. More significantly, the joint statement between the EU and Office of the U.S Trade Representative said the two sides are aiming for a united approach to global overcapacity distortions that would allow the 25% and 10% tariffs under Section 232 to be removed at the end of the year. Domestic metal producers welcomed that news, but the union that represents steelworkers reacted with some alarm.