As the U.S. Fashion Industry Association's representatives in Washington try to find out timing for a renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, Senate Finance Committee staff members are telling them “there’s a lack of urgency with respect to this” among senators. David Spooner, Washington counsel for USFIA, told an online audience March 30 that Congress seems to think that since importers will get refunds for goods that should have qualified for GSP during this period once it's renewed, it's no big deal. “But we know what a pain in the rear the retroactive renewals are,” he said.
The Commerce Department is asking for input on how it should structure its Internet and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) preclearance or licensing process (see 2102190033), and is acknowledging that it will not be able to have a licensing regime in place by May 19, as predicted by the previous administration. The rules Comments are due by April 28.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will consider how the coup in Myanmar (formerly Burma) might affect that country's eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, which is currently on hiatus. The USTR made the announcement March 29, and also said that there will be no trade engagement under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement until the return of a democratically elected government. “Reports that the military has targeted Burma’s trade unions and workers for their role in the pro-democracy protests raise serious concerns about worker rights protections,” the notice said. According to USTR data, about 45% of exports from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to the U.S. could be covered by GSP, but the country is not a large user of the program, only exporting $284 million worth of goods under GSP in 2019, according to USTR.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in her first interview since taking office, said that she's hearing from stakeholders who say the additional tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods from China damages the economy, but she's not inclined to remove them without concessions from China. “No negotiator walks away from leverage, right?” she said. “I have heard people say, ‘Please just take these tariffs off,’” Tai told The Wall Street Journal. But “yanking off tariffs,” she warned, could harm the economy unless the change is “communicated in a way so that the actors in the economy can make adjustments.”
Even as the U.S. trade representative said she'd rather an international settlement be reached on how to tax digital services companies, she identified
Bill Brock, a U.S. trade representative during the Reagan administration, died March 25 at age 90 of pneumonia, according to published reports.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is asking for public comments on trade actions for retaliatory tariffs on Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom related to their digital services taxes, to preserve options before the statutory one-year time period for completing a Section 301 investigation. “The United States is committed to working with its trading partners to resolve its concerns with digital services taxes, and to addressing broader issues of international taxation,” USTR Katherine Tai said. “The United States remains committed to reaching an international consensus through the OECD process on international tax issues. However, until such a consensus is reached, we will maintain our options under the Section 301 process, including, if necessary, the imposition of tariffs.”
A readout of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's call with India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal made no mention of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, where India was the largest beneficiary before it was barred over U.S. medical device and dairy exporters' complaints. The Indian government did not release a press release summarizing its view of the call. Tai's office said that they “agreed to work constructively to resolve key outstanding bilateral trade issues and to take a comprehensive look at ways to expand the trade relationship.”
The Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces (INFORM) for Consumers Act, introduced March 23, would require online marketplaces to authenticate the identity of high-volume, third-party sellers. Lead sponsors Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., say the act would deter counterfeit sales and prevent shoplifting rings from reselling goods online. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; and Chris Coons, D-Del., are co-sponsors.
On the same day that 37 trade associations worked to draw attention to a renewed push to eliminate Section 232 tariffs, a left of center think tank published a paper disagreeing with the arguments that the Tariff Reform Coalition is making, that steel and aluminum sanctions cost more jobs in manufacturing than they saved at primary steel producers.