The National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones has long argued that barring goods produced in FTZs from qualifying for USMCA tariff benefits makes no sense, if the goods would otherwise meet rules of origin, and that the restriction puts FTZ production at a disadvantage compared to Mexican and Canadian production.
President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Act Dec. 23. Under the act, the rebuttable presumption that goods with a nexus to China's Xinjiang province are made with forced labor will begin June 21.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., added his voice to Rep. Karen Bass's request that the Biden administration not let Ethiopia be kicked out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act as a beneficiary country on Jan. 1. He and Bass, D-Calif., wrote, “While we absolutely condemn the human rights abuses that have taken place on both sides of this conflict, we are concerned that suspension of AGOA benefits will be counterproductive and disproportionately harm the most vulnerable Ethiopians without contributing to the cessation of hostilities.”
Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng said her government has filed notice that it is bringing a state-to-state dispute under USMCA over the increase in antidumping and countervailing duties on most Canadian softwood lumber exports. The Commerce Department issued the final results of the reviews in November (see 2112020026).
Fourteen pro-trade House Democrats are asking Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to quickly advance discussions on how tariffs on Japanese and British steel and aluminum could be lifted. "[D]ownstream users continue to face astonishingly high prices in steel and aluminum," wrote the group, which is led by Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she would like to see two bills that could fight counterfeit sales online get into the China package (see 2112150050), and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he thinks Republicans would be open to that. Grassley told International Trade Today during a phone call with reporters that he has not talked to other Republicans about including the Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-Commerce Act of 2021, or Shop Safe Act, in the compromise language that will be negotiated between the two chambers. "But for me, I can say yes."
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments by Dec. 30 on its proposal to split one of the trade advisory committees into two committees -- one for critical minerals and nonferrous metals, and one for forest products and building materials.The office also intends to establish a committee of chairs of the trade advisory committees to "facilitate cross-sharing of information and provide a powerful tool to gather timely cross-cutting input across sectors." Comments may be made at docket number USTR-2021-2022 on regulations.gov.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has 11 member countries since the U.S. backed out in 2016, has attracted four applications this year, from the United Kingdom, Taiwan, China and, most recently, South Korea. The U.S., which took a leading role in negotiating the high-standard free trade agreement, is unlikely to ask to come back in the next two years, panelists on a Hudson Institute discussion agreed.
The head of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, along with Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., introduced the National Critical Capabilities Defense Act, which would require that companies report when they send supply chains of critical goods to "adversaries" such as China. The bill is a companion bill to one introduced earlier in the year by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. The information would go to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Commerce Department and the Defense Department. Committee Chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. said, "The COVID-19 pandemic and semiconductor shortages exposed that critical United States supply chains were not up to the task of robustly responding to America’s needs. We have to learn from our mistakes and cannot allow outbound investments from the United States to take critical supply chains overseas and into the hands of our adversaries such as China or Russia. Companies at a minimum should be required to report on their proposed offshoring of supply chains so the United States can better protect critical manufacturing capacity here at home and safeguard American workers and our national, economic, and health security."
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., recently introduced a bill that would require the secretary of state to develop a strategy to reduce reliance on single foreign countries for critical goods and to encourage manufacturing of computer hardware, communications technology, biotechnology, semiconductors, batteries, aerospace metals and parts, polysilicon destined for solar panels and more to be done in the Western Hemisphere or the U.S. The bill said if a good critical to national or economic security is majority imported, and if 30% of those imports come from a single foreign country, the government should develop a strategy to encourage diversification. Kinzinger said the Allies Strengthening Economies And Manufacturing (Allies SEAM) Act would "bolster national security, prevent future disruptions to our economy, and provide good-paying jobs in the United States."