A bipartisan duo introduced a bill in the House that would not allow future Section 232 tariffs or quotas without congressional approval, and would give Congress the ability to end the current steel and aluminum tariffs and quotas.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jayme White said that during his meeting with Mexico's undersecretary of economy for foreign trade, Alejandro Encinas, he "underscored the need to address the recent surge of Mexican steel and aluminum exports to the United States in accordance with the 2019 Joint Statement by the United States and Mexico on Section 232 Duties on Steel and Aluminum, and ensuring greater transparency with regard to Mexico’s steel and aluminum imports from third countries."
Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena, on her first trip to Washington, put USMCA first in her list of priorities, saying that in the less than 14 months left in the administration she is part of, she wants "to be able to bring certainty" in the NAFTA replacement, and to engage across all three countries in various sectors. "It's very important to consolidate this very important economic framework, and to make sure even if we are leaving in 13 months that this can remain as a powerful ... mechanism of trade and investment and economic development and partnership," she said at the Atlantic Council Aug. 10.
The Internet Technology and Innovation Foundation's Center for Data Innovation says The COOL Online Act, which exited the Senate Commerce Committee in late July (see 2307280069) "presents a significant risk for online retailers," and would result in uneven enforcement of country of origin labeling in stores and at retailers online.
A bill that would end China's eligibility for most favored nation tariffs was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and the text was published Aug. 8. The bill has no co-sponsors.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said he intends to co-sponsor a renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and said he believes the appetite in Congress is "strong" to act before the summer of 2025. AGOA expires Sept. 30, 2025.
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative senior advisers Jamila Thompson and Beth Baltzan and special counsel Victor Ban said during a recent trip to Wyoming, Montana and Idaho that workers they heard from want the office to increase the use of enforcement tools in the USMCA.
The National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones said it worked with CBP for more than two years on segregating goods detained under suspicion of forced labor, and it says ending storage at FTZs for these goods "is not justified based on the facts and circumstances involved." CBP announced late last week that goods detained under suspicion of forced labor may be transported to a bonded warehouse, but not to an FTZ (see 2308030062).
The National Foreign Trade Council said Canada's proposed digital services tax "is clearly discriminatory towards U.S. companies," and the bill's introduction is shortsighted.
Anabel Gonzalez, one of the World Trade Organization's deputy directors-general, said in a farewell column that although progress is being made on improving the WTO, "governments face some tough choices in the months and years to come to deal with pressing matters that, if left unchecked, could seriously erode the multilateral trading system and damage trade as an engine of growth and prosperity."