MTB Expected to Pass Quickly, Lawyer Says
Thompson Hine lawyer David Schwartz said he thinks the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill will be renewed as soon as the bill can be introduced and get through the two chambers of Congress. But Schwartz, speaking on a Jan. 19 webinar put on by the law firm, said there are enough voices there asking for changes to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program that he doesn't expect it to get a vote until the shape of that reform is hammered out. House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., wants new requirements on countries to get the tariff breaks, including environmental enforcement, political pluralism, work on reducing poverty and combating corruption (see 2012080049).
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Outside of Congress, Schwartz expects trade to be a back burner issue in the Joe Biden administration, and that the incoming president won't pursue trade policies that are unpopular in Michigan, Wisconsin or Pennsylvania, since winning those states was central to his Electoral College win.
Still, the steel tariffs, which are popular with Pennsylvania steelworkers, will be lifted for “those countries that Biden considers critical to reassert U.S. global trade leadership,” Schwartz said during the webinar. Presumably, that includes Japan and the European Union, since they are part of the trilateral process to find a unified approach on China's use of industrial subsidies. It's not clear whether countries that have accepted quotas, such as South Korea and Brazil, would be on that list.
Schwartz said he expects tariff exclusions will be more transparent in the new administration, with reasons for any denials. He also said it's “highly unlikely” that the Commerce Department will self-initiate trade remedy or trade circumvention cases. “He does not want to incur the wrath of our allies,” he said.