After the sudden death of Richard Trumka, Liz Shuler was elected president of the AFL-CIO, the federation of unions announced Aug. 20. Shuler is the first woman to lead the AFL-CIO. Shuler started as an organizer at Electrical Workers (IBEW), and worked at that union's political/legislative affairs department in Washington, D.C., before becoming secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO.
Less than two weeks after the U.S. and Mexico announced a resolution to a Rapid Response Mechanism complaint over labor violations at a General Motors plant in Mexico (see 2107090019), the second vote at the plant in Silao resulted in a rejection of the protection union. The complaint was brought because that same protection union did ballot-stuffing and intimidated workers during the first vote, advocates said.
Vice President Kamala Harris, in a speech in Singapore, said that Singapore's government is beginning a dialogue "on how our two countries can better work together to strengthen supply chain resiliency in this region." Harris said that the pandemic revealed the vulnerability of supply chains for protective gear and for semiconductor chips. "You just ask anybody who's thinking about trying to buy a new car or a used car, and it is more difficult than it has been in a long time because, of course, supply chain issues impact production lines and impact goods getting to market," she said. "I will be meeting with key business leaders here in Singapore to discuss what more we can do together in this region of the world, with private and public sectors, including our own in the United States, to shore up supply lines and supply chains."
The Mexican government has asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for formal consultations under USMCA's dispute resolution process over a disagreement on how the auto rules of origin should work. Mexico says that when it agreed to a 75% regional value content standard at the end of the phase-in period, its negotiators were assuming that once a part is considered originating, its value should count as North American as you move to assemblies, and ultimately, to the vehicle as a whole. So, Mexico says that in the text on the rules of origin, if a core part is originating, its full value is counted in a super-core part, such as an engine, and if that engine is originating, its value counts in the RVC for the vehicle as a whole.
After a ban on imported fish from an area of the Upper Gulf of California in Mexico failed to stop illegal fishing that threatens a nearly extinct porpoise, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Environmental Investigation Agency are asking the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to ask the tri-national Commission on Environmental Cooperation to establish a formal factual record of Mexico's failure to enforce its ban on gillnets in that region. Once the record is established, the groups are asking USTR to initiate a dispute against Mexico over the issue.
Customs Inefficiencies, Need for Mexico-Asia Supply Chains Limit Nearshoring's Appeal, Panelists Say
Representatives from manufacturing interests operating in Mexico said the COVID-19 pandemic has presented an opportunity to argue for locating more production in North America, for both reliability and speed, but there are still obstacles to making the argument for nearshoring as an answer to vulnerable supply chains. The president of the National Council of the Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry and the director of global trade compliance for Illinois-headquartered manufacturer Regal Beloit spoke at the Wilson Center's "Building a Competitive U.S.-Mexico Border" conference, which was held Aug. 10 and 11.
After a request from Auxin Solar and Suniva that the solar cell, module and panel safeguard be extended, the International Trade Commission launched an investigation into whether the 18% tariff "continues to be necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury and whether there is evidence that the domestic industry is making a positive adjustment to import competition." The tariff is scheduled to sunset on Feb. 7, 2022.
More than a third of Republican senators are telling President Joe Biden that the European Union's plan to apply tariffs to aluminum, cement, fertilizers, iron and steel from countries that are not pricing carbon as the EU does is protectionism in disguise. They noted that U.S. steel is already more carbon efficient than the product is in the EU.
Autoparts maker Tridonex, a subsidiary of Cardone Industries, agreed to offer back pay to more than 150 employees who used to work at its Matamoros plant and to remain neutral as the workers at that plant vote on whether to reject the protection union and choose an independent union. A protection union is a union that is in league with the company, rather than an independent voice for workers.
Much work remains to be done to create a concrete proposal on levying tariffs on imports from countries that are not as aggressive as the U.S. is about battling climate change, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a brief Capitol hallway interview Aug. 10. Such a tariff is planned as a pay-for in the upcoming spending bill for education and daycare, income support, health care, housing and environmental priorities. "People have asked, 'What is this really all about?'” he said. "We have defined this as making sure that, as our workers and our manufacturers push very hard to modernize our infrastructure, make it greener and cleaner, that other countries don't undercut our workers and manufacturers. That is the philosophical foundation."