Fifteen House Republicans, led by Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, will serve on a task force evaluating China's economic threat, its efforts to gain a technology advantage, and the origin of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said May 7.
Canada, Mexico, China, the United Kingdom, Japan and an assortment of other countries around the world said the World Trade Organization has an essential role to play in ensuring the continued flow of essential goods -- including medical supplies -- across borders. “We stress that trade restrictive emergency measures aimed at protecting health, if deemed necessary, shall be targeted, proportionate, transparent and temporary, not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disruption to global supply chains, and be consistent with WTO rules. We pledge to lift any such measures as soon as possible,” the statement said. “We also stress the necessity of maintaining agriculture supply chains and preserving Members' food security. We, therefore, pledge to not impose export restrictions and to refrain from implementing unjustified trade barriers on agricultural and food products in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” No country in the European Union signed the statement, issued May 5, nor did the U.S.
The United States notified the World Trade Organization that it has fully complied with the WTO's findings in the Boeing subsidies dispute, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said May 6. The European Union and U.S. have been battling for 15 years over whose subsidies to their aircraft manufacturers distort trade. The WTO has said that both sides were in the wrong, and the U.S. currently has Section 301 tariffs on about $7.5 billion worth of European aircraft, food, apparel, linens, tools, wine and spirits in a WTO-sanctioned retaliation for past Airbus subsidies.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will accept comments on whether various kinds of rice should be removed from the list of products under the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, and whether roses should be added. Comments are due May 27. Instead of an in-person hearing, due to the COVID-19 prevention guidelines the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee instead will respond to petitioners and commenters with any questions, and they will have time to reply to the subcommittee.
The Commerce Department will open an investigation to decide whether imports of cranes from Austria, Germany, Japan and other countries are imperiling national security. The Bureau of Industry and Security will conduct the investigation and request comments in a coming notice, it said.
Politicians whose constituents work at electrical steel mills hailed the news that electrical steel cores and laminations used to make transformers, as well as transformers and transformer regulators, are going to be subject to a Section 232 investigation (see 2005040059). Three of the four senators from Pennsylvania and Ohio, and a Pennsylvania congressman, lauded the administration for considering further protection for AK Steel, which was acquired by Cleveland-Cliffs in March. Once imported electrical steel was subject to 25% tariffs, AK Steel said imports of downstream products made from this kind of steel increased.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, when asked about a legislative proposal that would prevent tariff payments to customs brokers from being clawed back in bankruptcy, said, “I’ve never given it any thought.” Grassley, who was speaking on a phone call with reporters May 5, didn't know that customs brokers face this problem when a client declares bankruptcy and the broker serves as a pass-through agent for tariffs. “It seems to me that in most bankruptcies the government’s first in line to recapture what the government is owed,” he said. The National Customs Brokers& Forwarders Association of America has been trying to get the proposal to be included in the next round of COVID-19 relief (see 2003200030), and International Trade Today asked Grassley whether he would support its inclusion.
Importers who have goods arriving this month or next cannot benefit from the 90-day tariff deferral the administration offered, even if they had the same sort of sharp drop in revenue that made them eligible before. Republican senators, who are back in Washington to discuss another round of relief legislation, expressed some interest in extending that program through statute, during hallway interviews with International Trade Today before entering the weekly caucus lunch. The Trump administration allowed for deferred regular customs duty payments on entries for March and April (see 2004300048).
The Congressional Research Service, in a May 1 report, noted that Congress may want to turn its attention to the U.S.-Kenya negotiations not only because of the free trade agreement's potential economic effects, but also because of mandates in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) -- Kenya is the second-largest beneficiary of AGOA when oil is excluded.
The International Trade Commission identified 112 tariff lines in a report on goods needed to fight COVID-19, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., is asking that all duties be suspended for 90 days on those goods. The majority of the 112 tariff lines are covered neither by Section 301 nor by Most Favored Nation duties, so are currently duty free.