A panel at the World Trade Organization ruled that the Commerce Department was wrong to resort to “facts available” calculations of subsidies or cost of production in many cases, either ignoring appropriately submitted information that was verifiable, not accepting information that came in past a deadline but was still timely, or not being clear in its requests to firms.
Even though the Joe Biden administration will have a very different approach to trade than did the Trump administration, that will not mean a wholesale rejection of what its predecessors did, analysts said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar Jan. 21.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a Senate Finance Committee member, said the Treasury Department secretary might be confirmed early next week, if not sooner, and he thinks it's more likely negotiations at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on taxes could progress than will a settlement of the Airbus-Boeing dispute. Treasury leads on the digital services taxes (DST) front, while the U.S. trade representative, whose nomination will not come as quickly, leads on Airbus-Boeing.
The White House is freezing rules that have been published, but have not taken effect, as well as proposed rulemaking and interim final rules, for 60 days from Jan. 20, so that the new administration can review the policies. The Trump administration issued a similar order in 2017 (see 1701230031), as did previous administrations.
House Democrats, including Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., are asking that Mexico and Canada agree to their commitments under the Paris Climate Accords as a condition of the USMCA. As a senator, Vice President Kamala Harris voted against USMCA because it did not address climate; the fast track legislation that directed the executive branch's negotiating priorities prohibited including climate in trade agreements.
Ninety minutes before President Donald Trump left office, the White House announced that United Arab Emirates aluminum exports will no longer be subject to a 10% tariff, but the level of its imports will be permitted “to remain close to historical levels without meaningful increases.” The proclamation said this would limit export surges and discourage excess aluminum production.
Alejandro Mayorkas, the Joe Biden administration's nominee for Homeland Security secretary, told Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, during his confirmation hearing that getting CBP to promulgate regulations to implement a law combating fentanyl imports through the mail would be a priority for him, if he is confirmed.
Thompson Hine lawyer David Schwartz said he thinks the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill will be renewed as soon as the bill can be introduced and get through the two chambers of Congress. But Schwartz, speaking on a Jan. 19 webinar put on by the law firm, said there are enough voices there asking for changes to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program that he doesn't expect it to get a vote until the shape of that reform is hammered out. House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., wants new requirements on countries to get the tariff breaks, including environmental enforcement, political pluralism, work on reducing poverty and combating corruption (see 2012080049).
In a cost analysis of a rule that would provide for Commerce review of transactions for a wide variety of products in the telecommunications and information and communications technology and services (ICTS) supply chains, the Commerce Department estimated that 4.5 million firms import “significant amounts of goods and services” that could be subject to review, with nearly all of those small and mid-sized firms.
European Union Director General for Trade Sabine Weyand told an audience Jan. 15 that resolving punitive tariffs are “a prerequisite for creating a good atmosphere” so that the EU and the U.S. can coordinate on confronting China's trade abuses and creating a carbon border adjustment.