The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said further decoupling from China is certain if China doesn't do more to step up on industrial subsidies, intellectual property rights protection, trade secret theft and other U.S. companies' priorities. Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs for the Chamber, told reporters on a Jan. 13 call that there's not much political space for incoming President Joe Biden to roll back tariffs, even as his campaign was critical of the economic consequences of the trade war.
In a Jan. 12 speech to the National Foreign Trade Council, a business group that promotes free trade, President-elect Joe Biden's choice for U.S. trade representative said “U.S. trade policy must benefit regular Americans, communities and workers.” Katherine Tai added that it “starts with recognizing that people are not just consumers. They are also workers.”
A Republican congresswoman who has been the biggest critic of the Section 232 exclusion process told National Foreign Trade Council webinar listeners that, “I’m hoping for the best under this administration. We’ve suffered a lot under [Section] 232 and 301.” Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., added that “I can’t wait to see it start unraveling.” Walorski, who claimed Jan. 12 that “we were kind of in this battle” with President Donald Trump over the broadness of the China tariffs, voted against certifying Biden's Electoral College victory last week.
National Foreign Trade Council panelists addressing the future of U.S.-China relations agreed that the political climate won't allow President Joe Biden to reverse the Section 301 tariffs on China, even though they think those tariffs haven't been effective in achieving their goal of changing the competitive playing field with Chinese firms.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, introduced a bill Jan. 6 that would bar countries that aren't following international environmental obligations or enforcing their environmental laws from participating in the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. Currently, GSP is not in effect. In the previous Congress, Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., introduced a bill (see 2012080049) that included this plank, as well as eligibility predicated on whether the country is making continual progress toward establishing “the rule of law, political pluralism, the right to due process, a fair trial and equal protection under the law,” and whether those countries are working to “reduce poverty, increase the availability of health care and educational opportunities,” and combat corruption. All legislation introduced last year has to be reintroduced in the new Congress to be considered.
The United Steelworkers, the Steel Manufacturers Association, the American Iron and Steel Institute and two other trade groups wrote to President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 11, telling him that weakening or removing 25% tariffs and quotas on imported steel “before major steel producing countries eliminate their overcapacity and the subsidies and other trade-distorting policies that have fueled the steel crisis will only invite a new surge in imports with devastating effects to domestic steel producers and their workers.” The letter said the Section 232 tariffs allowed idled mills to reopen and laid-off workers to regain their jobs. “Continuation of the tariffs and quotas is essential to ensuring the viability of the domestic steel industry in the face of ... massive and growing excess steel capacity,” they said, pointing to China, Vietnam and Turkey as countries that did not slow down steel production during the COVID-19 pandemic-induced recession.
In post-hearing comments over the argument that Vietnamese imports of illegal timber hurt U.S. furniture manufacturers, several parties said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is not following the law, because it provided no concrete evidence of illegal timber in furniture exporters' supply chains.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is not taxing French cosmetics or handbags, as it wants to have “a coordinated response” to all the Digital Service Tax cases, the agency said Jan. 7. It also released its findings on India's, Turkey's and Italy's proposed DSTs, with no proposed actions.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer called others to join him in condemning of the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol. Lighthizer, in a signed tweet Jan. 6, said: “All patriotic Americans should condemn the violence we saw at our Capitol today. This is inconsistent with our democracy and our most cherished values.”
The head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam said businesses there don't know whether U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will conclude that Vietnam has been a trade cheat through currency manipulation but not put a tariff number on it; put a tariff number but not start collecting; or implement tariffs before the new administration takes over Jan. 20.