A day after the White House's primary spokesperson said that if there's an opportunity to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that's a discussion the U.S. could join, a former White House trade negotiator said the path to reentering the TPP is so steep that he doesn't think it's likely in the next few years.
The legislative language for a proposed change to the treatment of excise tax drawback claims on exported tobacco would make such claims ineligible not just going forward (see 2109130038), but also would disallow claims filed since Dec. 18, 2018. That is the date that CBP issued a final rule saying that such claims were not allowed. However, the prohibition did not take effect until Feb. 19, 2019, because of the 60-day waiting period after the rule's publication (see 1908300032). The final rule was overturned in court, so some exporters have been collecting substitution drawback on these goods -- or as the government calls it, "double drawback," since the case was won.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai met with Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo Sept. 13, and in a summary of that meeting, she said she emphasized the importance of advancing workers' rights through the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, as well as using KORUS to resolve bilateral issues.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says that although his initial list of pay-fors did not include any taxes on tobacco, he thinks the House Ways and Means Committee proposal is worthy of being included on what he called "a menu of options" to give Democratic senators choices. "I happen to think that this is an important idea, they're talking, I gather, at e-cigarettes," he said during a Capitol hallway interview.
The Biden administration announced it is nominating Marisa Lago to serve as the undersecretary of commerce for international trade, a position that directs the International Trade Administration, which has an annual budget of about $483 million. Lago is the director of the New York City Department of City Planning, and served in the Obama administration as the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for international markets and development. If confirmed by the Senate, she would replace the acting undersecretary, Diane Farrell.
The ability to eliminate excise taxes on tobacco products through substitution drawback would end if the tax legislation the House Ways and Means Committee is considering becomes law. The U.S. considers this sort of drawback "double drawback," because the substitute exported product was never subject to excise taxes, and that is how the committee characterized it. "This provision stops the practice of double drawbacks for tobacco products by making exports that are not subject to excise tax ineligible for a drawback claim," the summary says.
The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee's Trade Subcommittee and Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., another prominent voice on trade, both proposed amendments to trade legislation that emphasize the complaints that Republicans have about the Democrats' trade policy.
In a strategic meeting called a high-level economic dialogue, Mexico and the U.S. talked about ways to facilitate the movement of goods at the border and ways to use Mexico in a North American-centric semiconductor supply chain, officials said after the Sept. 9 meeting. Mexico could become a place for packaging and testing chips, Mexico's Economy Secretary Tatiana Clouthier said at a press conference at the Mexican Embassy.
A Republican senator said that even with three years of protectionist tariffs and quotas, the U.S. steel industry cannot meet demand, causing manufacturers that need steel to either curtail production or move production outside the country. In a Sept. 2 letter, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., told the commerce secretary and U.S. trade representative that lifting the tariffs on European countries' steel exports is a good first step, but that Japan and South Korea, too, should be given an opportunity to get relief, which in turn, should help alleviate the 400% increase in the cost of the metal this year. He said there will be a surge in demand if the infrastructure bill passes Congress, and the U.S. needs to prepare for that by lifting Section 232 tariffs and quotas.
Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was asked at his Sept. 2 press conference if it would be better to reach an agreement among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico on the question of the interpretation of auto rules of origin. López Obrador said.that it would be better to reach agreement without having to convene a dispute settlement panel, and added, "I don't think it will go that far; an agreement is to be reached soon." The countries could also try mediation or conciliation instead of a panel if consultations are unsuccessful.