A half-dozen countries that negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- including two that never ratified it -- and Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and India agreed to start negotiating agreements with the United States on trade, supply chains, digital standards, anti-corruption, and tax and investment from the U.S. for decarbonization and infrastructure.
A few days after the majority of senators said they want Taiwan to be included in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (see 2205180034), U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai issued a readout of a May 20 meeting with a top Taiwanese official that made no mention of IPEF. Tai said she met with Taiwan’s Minister-Without-Portfolio John Deng, and said that they discussed "opportunities to deepen the economic relationship, advance mutual trade priorities based on shared values, and promote innovation and inclusive economic growth for their workers and businesses." It said they also discussed how Taiwan and the U.S. both want to fight forced labor, and how important supply chain traceability is.
New Democrats Chair Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and Scott Peters, D-Calif., vice chair for policy, are adding their voices to those asking the Commerce Department to quickly conclude its antidumping circumvention investigation on solar panels made in Asia. Senators and governors have been arguing that the investigation is damaging utilities' ability to install large-scale solar arrays. "As the U.S. invests in American research, development, domestic manufacturing, and deployment of clean technology, we will continue to rely on imports in order to reach our climate goals for years to come. We are concerned by reports of delayed and cancelled installations and extensions of fossil fuel plants that otherwise would have been retired," they, joined by 14 other caucus members, said in a statement.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., is leading a nine-person bipartisan delegation to Brussels, the U.K. and Ireland to discuss strengthening trans-Atlantic trade relations as well as "underscoring the significance of the Good Friday Agreement." The Boris Johnson administration in London has proposed legislation to end border checks on goods sent from the main island to Northern Ireland. This is problematic because there are no border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU member.
The White House announced May 18 that the president is invoking the Defense Production Act in response to the infant formula shortage, which will require that suppliers send inputs to infant formula manufacturers ahead of other customers, and will direct the Pentagon to use its commercial air cargo contracts to transport formula from foreign factories that have met FDA safety standards. The White House is calling that Operation Fly Formula. "Bypassing regular air freighting routes will speed up the importation and distribution of formula and serve as an immediate support as manufacturers continue to ramp up production," the administration said.
The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said he's hoping to have a conversation with Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Senate Finance Committee leaders about pairing trade agreement negotiations and renewing Trade Adjustment Assistance -- but Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said he won't support TAA in the China bill without "real substantive commitments" from the administration that it intends to negotiate for market access abroad.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman and top Republican on the committee sent a letter to the White House, arguing that Taiwan should be in the Indo Pacific Economic Framework, and asking for a briefing for both their committee and the Senate Finance Committee on whether it will be, what the U.S.'s economic engagement is with Taiwan, and whether the U.S. has economic goals that it is seeking with Taiwan. The May 18 letter, which also was signed by the Senate Finance Committee chairman and ranking member and 48 other senators, notes that there was $114 billion in two-way trade with Taiwan last year, and that Taiwan is a significant player in computers, telecommunications and electronics. "Excluding Taiwan from IPEF would significantly distort regional and global economic architecture, run counter to U.S. economic interests" and play into China's narrative about Taiwan, they said. China argues that Taiwan is not an independent country, and has punished countries that have given it diplomatic recognition.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said during a press conference in Brussels that there's a variety of opinions in the administration about what to do on tariffs, and officials haven't been able to agree on how to proceed. "I've said previously that I think that some of the tariffs that were imposed by President Trump in retaliation for China's unfair trade practices, some of them, to me, seem as though they impose more harm on consumers and businesses and aren't very strategic in the sense of addressing real issues we have with China, whether it concerns supply chain vulnerabilities, national security issues, or other unfair trade practices," she said.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked Mexico to review whether workers at the Panasonic Automotive Systems de Mexico facility in Reynosa are being denied the rights of free association and collective bargaining. By doing so, USTR is endorsing an April 18 request from Rethink Trade and a Mexican union that was, at the time, trying to win a union vote at the factory (see 2204190031). The two groups' complaint said that Panasonic fired more than 60 workers who supported the independent union, and that the captive union, Confederación de Trabajadores de México (CTM), was offering bribes to workers to get their votes. They also said that Panasonic signed a contract with CTM before the vote, and started withholding union dues almost a month before the vote.
At a hearing on Canada's role in helping the U.S. meet its climate goals, both Canadian politicians and senators talked about how they need to continue developing a partnership in critical minerals. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said it makes no sense "for us to so heavily invest in electric vehicles as a climate solution when that means increasing our reliance on China, because right now we’re not simultaneously increasing our mining, processing, and recycling capacity at the same rate in the United States.