China's lack of worker rights, weak environmental standards "and anticompetitive subsidies are the hallmarks of China’s artificial comparative advantage. It is an advantage that puts others out of business and violates any notion of fair competition," the annual trade policy agenda from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said, and the administration is looking to advance fair competition "through all available avenues," including coordinating with other countries, using existing trade agreements, or new tools, it said.
A bipartisan bill was introduced March 1 in the Senate to revoke normal trading relations with Russia "and other countries that invade sovereign nations." The next day, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee introduced his own version, which echoes the House bill, in that it not only revokes permanent normal trade relations, it also suggests that the U.S. delegation to the World Trade Organization work to convince other countries to expel Russia from the WTO.
After anxiety among some Democrats in the House that the union election at an auto parts factory in Matamoros, Mexico, would not be fair, the workers at Tridonex chose the Sindicato Nacional Independiente de Trabajadores de Industrias y Servicios, replacing a captive union that had represented the workers. The AFL-CIO had asked that the election be subject to a rapid response under USMCA, and the AFL-CIO said, "we will continue to support the union’s fight to negotiate a fair contract with the company. At the same time, we call on Mexican authorities to investigate disturbing allegations of bribery by the incumbent protection union in an effort to steal the election."
Leading trade officials from Mexico, Canada and the U.S. talked about how to collaborate on more resilient supply chains during a webinar hosted by a prominent Washington think tank, but the conversation could not avoid some of the touchy issues in the trilateral relationship.
Two Democrats and two Republicans in the House have introduced a bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security to offer third-party logistics providers slots in a Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) pilot. The bill, introduced Feb. 25, would give 10 non-asset-based logistics companies and 10 logistics companies that use their own warehouses slots in the pilot program, which would be required to last at least one year and as many as five years. The department would have to open applications for the pilot within the first year after the bill's enactment. Reps. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, Steve Womack, R-Ark., and Elaine Luria, D-Va., co-sponsored the bill.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is saying that Russia should no longer get permanent normal trade relations treatment, which would hike tariffs on Russian imports, doubling the tariffs on imported crude and on caviar, for instance.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he is interested in revoking Permanent Normal Trading Relations with Russia over the weekend. "The US must respond forcefully & consider the unprecedented nature of the crisis," he tweeted. "Everything should be on the table -- including revoking Permanent Normal Trading Relations w/ Russia. Access to the US market is a privilege, not a right."
House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that she needs to provide "a detailed analysis" of how China did or did not live up to the phase one trade deal. "We have great confidence in your abilities to address the many challenges China presents to the United States and other market economies, and we hope you will expand detailed communication on these matters so that Congress and the Administration can be partners in developing effective U.S. responses," they wrote Feb. 24.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, introduced legislation to end permanent normal trade relations with Russia, and they are seeking to remove Russia from the World Trade Organization as well. “In seeking multiple ways to respond to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, we should close every possible avenue for Russian participation in the world economy,” Doggett said in their Feb. 25 press release. "As Putin undermines the stability carefully built since World War II, he and his oligarch pals should not benefit from the trading system created to ensure that stability and peace.”
A trade lawyer who has represented steel companies in trade remedy cases said that he is concerned that the proposed green standards for steel will not be as effective in preserving the American steel industry's market-based foundation, because foreign firms will subsidize overcapacity in the name of shifting from higher carbon-intensity mills to more environmentally friendly ones. Alan Price, who chairs Wiley Rein's trade practice, was one of three panelists on a Feb. 24 Washington International Trade Association webinar on "Fair and Clean Trade in Steel and Aluminum."