Eighteen House members, led by Reps. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., and Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., introduced the Nicaragua Free Trade Review Act, which requires the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to review Nicaragua's compliance with the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) within 60 days of the bill becoming law. “Under Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua has become a land of oppression” Salazar said in a June 17 news release. “Ortega's thugs are jailing political opponents and violently silencing dissenting voices. I've introduced the Nicaragua Free Trade Review Act because trade with the United States is a privilege, not a right. We must show Ortega's regime that they cannot continue repressing the Nicaraguan people while reaping the economic benefits of free trade with the United States.”
Former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, testifying at a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee hearing, said that in order to implement more withhold release orders, the Department of Homeland Security needs more resources to do investigations in the foreign countries where forced labor is alleged.
The auto industry will begin to comply with USMCA's auto rules of origin soon, but one of the biggest questions on regional value content continues to be contested. Dan Ujczo, a senior counsel for Thompson Hine's international trade practice and a USMCA expert, said summary reports from USMCA committees show that Mexican, Canadian and U.S. officials were unable to agree on how regional content should be calculated.
The United Kingdom and the U.S. announced an agreement in the Airbus-Boeing dispute in line with the previously announced agreement between the U.S. and the European Union (see 2106150021). In the agreement, both sides will keep 25% tariffs off a variety of products and 10% tariffs off aircraft for at least five years, and will use a working group to hash out any disagreements on whether either government's support for their large aircraft maker is distorting sales. They also will work together to counter Chinese or other countries' distortions, the June 17 statement said.
Florida's two Republican senators, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, along with Rep. Al Lawson, D-Fla., and the top Republican on the House Trade subcommittee, Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., reintroduced a bill that would change antidumping law to allow fruit and vegetable growers to bring cases when the injury is for only part of the growing season, and would not require the majority of growers to initiate a case.
The Generalized System of Preferences benefits program renewal and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, as revenue bills, must start in the House, and Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., has a distinctly different take on the longstanding programs than the version that recently passed the Senate with 91 votes.
Although the Senate Finance Committee's bipartisan amendment to the China package received 91 votes, some prominent Democrats on trade in the House aren't sure how its provisions could move in their chamber, if Republicans don't agree to calling them up under suspension, which requires a two-thirds vote for passage.
A bill that would block the importation of goods that the government believes were made with stolen trade secrets by state-government-owned or -controlled firms would allow that import ban to come much quicker than through the current Section 337 process.
The U.S.-European Union joint statement on trade says: "We will engage in discussions to allow the resolution of existing differences on measures regarding steel and aluminum before the end of the year. In this regard, we are determined to work together to resolve tensions arising from the U.S. application of tariffs on imports from the EU under U.S. Section 232." It also says, "We commit to ensure the long-term viability of our steel and aluminum industries, and to address excess capacity."
The U.S. and European Union are ending the longest trade dispute in the history of the World Trade Organization, and are moving from litigation to cooperation, the European Commission said in a news release. The White House said the tariffs are suspended for five years, which is a "fresh start," but allows the U.S. "to reapply tariffs if we’re no longer competing on a level playing field." Should the EU "cross a red line and U.S. producers are not able to compete fairly and on a level playing field, the United States retains the flexibility to reactivate the tariffs that are being suspended," said U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai during a call with reporters.