The Labor Department is seeking comments on its interim rules for how automakers can establish that enough of their vehicles were produced with $16/hour labor. Stakeholders have until Aug. 31 to comment.
Canada complained at the World Trade Organization that the U.S. has neither proposed a period of time to comply with the ruling on supercalendered paper, nor said whether it will comply with the Dispute Settlement Body ruling at all (see 2002060059). So, as it did in April, Canada is asking for the right to retaliate for the damage done. The complaint was part of the regular Dispute Settlement Body meeting in Geneva on June 29.
The process to submit written complaints for either the rapid response mechanism or for violations of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement's labor chapter will be published in the Federal Register June 30, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is soliciting comments on the submission procedures. Comments are due by Aug. 15.
Although lawmakers thought eliminating the NAFTA certificate would be helpful, some importers are more comfortable with structure, so there will be a certificate template available on CBP's trade agreements web page “as soon as possible,” Adam Sulewski, USMCA Center project leader at CBP, said during a conference call June 29. He reminded importers, “We can accept those required nine data elements in any form.”
The World Trade Organization arbitrator will not announce a decision on the size of retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. over Boeing subsidies until the fall, according to Reuters, citing unnamed sources. The U.S. has already imposed tariffs on European food, beverages, aircraft parts and a few other products, because a WTO arbitrator said the European Union had not come into compliance with a decision that said it gave too-large subsidies to Airbus. The decision had been expected in May or June, and EU officials were hoping that if they were granted the right to retaliate, that would convince the U.S. to negotiate a civil aviation settlement that would lift the U.S. tariffs. Instead, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is talking about adding more products to its 25% tariff list (see 2006240017).
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs completed its review of the interim final rule from the Department of Labor on certification under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The review was completed on June 24, it said. The labor value content, as it is known, is needed for both cars and light trucks to meet the new auto rules of origin under the USMCA. For cars, starting July 1, 33% of the vehicle must come from workers making at least $16 an hour in the U.S., $20.91 in Canada, or 304.21 pesos in Mexico, if the company is not granted alternative staging. If it is granted alternative staging, the threshold is 25%.
It's unclear how a President Joe Biden would try to use policy to shape the global supply chain, but the Atlantic Council's Asia Security director said that since Biden prefers a multilateral approach, he “might be less likely” to impose tariffs or export controls. Miyeon Oh, who was speaking during an Atlantic Council webinar June 26, said he might try to get allies to coordinate an effort “to rebalance the global supply chain,” and he might seek to use American participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a way to do so.
Countries that do not guarantee women's equal protection under the law, protect women from discrimination in hiring, or stop violence and sexual harassment at work should not be able to export products duty free under the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said. Their bill, introduced June 18, would amend the GSP program with these conditions (see 2006230053).
Most senators' questions to Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan at a Homeland Security Committee hearing June 25 were on immigration, but Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., asked him what the agency can do to stop counterfeit goods from coming in from China. Morgan said CBP is working to not just “come up with new policies, but also new techniques and new processes to help us identify and stop goods from coming into this country.”
As part of a resolution on banking regulations, the House of Representatives voted June 25 to block a resolution that Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., proposed, that the U.S. withdraw from the World Trade Organization (see 2005130062).