With the last round of consumer goods imported from China spared, and a reduction in Section 301 tariffs on about $120 billion in goods that were first subject to additional tariffs Sept. 1, some business interests welcomed the de-escalation, but warned that the U.S. should stay focused on more significant economic reforms in China. The tariffs on List 4a, which are at 15 percent and apply to about 3,800 8-digit tariff lines, will go to 7.5 percent.
Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said that despite lots of negotiating -- even through the last several weekends -- Democrats and Republicans are not finding a compromise on bringing back expired temporary tax provisions or renewing tax provisions that are due to end this year, such as the Craft Beer Modernization Act. With regard to the provisions that expire this year, like the one for beer, wine and spirits, Brady said he does not expect them to survive “if these discussions fall through.” That said, if there is a way to find a compromise, there are a few items that have wide appeal, and the Craft Beer excise tax break is “a high priority for both parties,” he said at a press conference Dec. 11.
House Democrats and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative say that the new NAFTA can serve as a template for future trade deals, but experts question how that might come to pass, and a key Republican wants at least one Republican priority restored in future deals.
Although the Senate Finance Committee will still have a mock markup on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, it will happen after the implementing bill has been sent to Congress, so it will be more “mock” than in past deals. The reason the process of Congress weighing in on a trade deal is a mock markup is that under fast track, or Trade Promotion Authority, Congress cannot amend the deals. But typically, the administration sends up a draft implementing bill, and then does incorporate at least some of Congress's suggestions on language before sending the final implementing bill.
Trade groups that oppose tariffs sent President Donald Trump a letter asking that the Dec. 15 tariffs not go into effect if a phase one deal is not reached by then. “We urge you to reach a Phase One deal with China and take the necessary steps to resolve the ongoing trade dispute. We certainly hope that this will lead to further negotiations, which ultimately lead to a final deal that not only addresses our key concerns with the U.S.-China trade relationship, but also eliminates the current tariffs imposed on both goods sourced from China and our goods exported to the critically important China market,” they said. The Americans for Free Trade coalition said in the Dec. 11 letter that it hopes the phase one agreement reduces some tariffs as well.
If a panel of labor experts determines that a Mexican factory is violating its workers' rights to collective bargaining, the U.S. may deny the goods from that factory the tariff benefits of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- but that denial of tariff benefits is not automatic.
Even though the Democrats won some changes to the new NAFTA that are seen as contrary to business interests -- primarily, removing extended patent protection for pharmaceuticals in Canada and Mexico -- business groups celebrated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to hold a vote on the trade pact. A vote in the House is expected next week, but a Senate vote won't come until next year.
It will be easier to bring a labor case under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement than it was in previous trade deals, but several particulars remain undisclosed. There will be expedited labor enforcement that “provides for facility-based enforcement,” and if independent labor experts find that collective bargaining rights weren't honored at particular factories, it will “lead to penalties,” a summary of the changes to USMCA says. But what those penalties are is not mentioned, and members of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee said they don't know what they are, as no other details beyond the memo have been shared. A Ways and Means spokeswoman and trade staffer did not answer questions.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal announced that they have reached a deal with the Trump administration on changes to the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. They called the changes they won over the last six months a victory for workers. They did not share many details of how the environmental, labor, enforcement and biologics provisions changed, but said the text would be shared before votes in the House of Representatives.
Even as Republicans and Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee asked the Trump administration to keep the World Trade Organization appellate body functioning while it pushes for reforms, the American ambassador to the WTO said Dec. 9 that the administration will not support any appellate body nominations, even as other countries agreed that the appellate body would change how it operated. More than 25 think tanks and trade groups, including the National Retail Federation and Americans for Prosperity, had also sent a letter Dec. 6 asking that the U.S. agree to the Walker Principles, named after New Zealand's ambassador to the WTO.