Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., introduced a bill that would increase tariffs an additional 20% on Chinese exports in Sections I through III of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule -- which includes Chapters 1-15 -- if China increases the amount of wheat and barley it's importing from Russia. The bill, released March 22, has no co-sponsors. "By allowing an increase of its purchases of Russian agricultural products, China could effectively be giving a financial lifeline to the Putin regime," Budd said in a news release. "This bill would act as a warning to the Chinese Communist Party that continuing their economic partnership with Russia will have grave consequences.”
A dozen trade groups sent Congress a letter saying changes to antidumping duty and countervailing duty laws, colloquially known as Leveling the Playing Field 2.0, shouldn't be part of the compromise between the respective House and Senate China packages. Though the legislation originated in the Senate, it was inserted into the House trade title of the America Competes Act.
The tariff rate quota arrangement that the U.S. offered the U.K. covers a higher volume of steel than the U.K. exported to the U.S. in 2018 and 2019, though those quotas also cover steel with EU country of origin that was melted and poured in the U.K.
The Senate Commerce Committee passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act by a voice vote March 22. The bill would shift the burden of proof on unreasonable detention and demurrage to carriers and forbid them from unreasonably declining export shipments. A recent panel at the Capitol revealed that before the COVID-19 pandemic-related supply chain crunch, 20% of containers went back to Asia empty, and now it's 80% (see 2203180050).
Private sector and government leaders from around the world talked about what their firms are doing and how the World Trade Organization could be a forum for creating smoother flowing supply chains.
BALTIMORE -- U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai continued to throw cold water on the idea of reviving negotiations for a free-trade agreement with the United Kingdom, saying, "A free trade agreement is a tool. It is a very 20th century tool. It has its place certainly in the toolbox," she said, but said that she wants these U.K.-U.S. economic dialogues to be "maximally responsive" to today's trade challenges. She said she wants to make sure "that we don’t spend years and spend a lot of blood, sweat and tears working on something that isn't going to be relevant to the needs of our people or our economies."
The top trade official in the British government and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said they want to do even more trade and investment between the two countries, even as a free-trade agreement is not the end goal. Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan had hoped that the Biden administration would continue the free trade negotiations started during the Trump administration, but that has not happened. Marjorie Chorlins, who leads the U.S.-U.K. Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also spoke at the March 21 plenary in Baltimore, saying the business community strongly supports more U.S.-U.K. economic cooperation.
Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and other Republicans asked the administration to use all available tools to help the union that represents dock workers and the port authorities on the West Coast to reach contracts on time this summer. Braun and his colleagues wrote, "We have heard from a number of stakeholders with concerns that a breakdown in negotiations ... will lead to even more disruptions and shipping delays at a time in which our nation’s ports are reporting record backlogs. ... Any delays caused by failed negotiations will have a drastic cost and impact on our nation’s supply chain. This cost will be felt by not only retailers and others that rely on ports for their business, but also by millions of American workers, farmers, and ranchers, who may face short-term shutdowns at their factories or barriers to shipping their products to market.”
Senators and representatives from all over the country wrote to the International Trade Commission asking it to reconsider countervailing duties on phosphate fertilizer from Morocco and asking it to suspend the investigation on urea ammonium nitrate solutions from Trinidad and Tobago.
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act is part of the House China package, and a Senate version is going to have a markup next week. House co-sponsor Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said the bill's advocates need senators "to be able to punch this into the end zone."