The National Association of Beverage Importers accused the U.S. trade representative of throwing gasoline on the fire of the Airbus-Boeing dispute on his way out the door (see 2012310010). “The rationale of the timing selected by the EU Commission for the timing of the trade volume determination is a technical argument at best and one that does not merit the potential risk of the EU simply retaliating,” NABI President Robert Tobiassen said in an emailed news release Dec. 31.
Wendy Cutler, the lead negotiator for the Trans Pacific Partnership, and James Green, who was the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's senior official in China, are questioning whether a new European Union-China investment agreement will undercut the united front President-elect Joe Biden wants on Chinese economic abuses.
Witnesses overwhelmingly argued against tariffs on Vietnamese imports, during a virtual hearing Dec. 29 hosted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, with numerous business representatives saying it was the choice not to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership, not any kind of currency issue, that makes it harder for U.S. exports to penetrate Vietnam. Trade groups representing importers from Vietnam noted that their members moved sourcing from China to Vietnam precisely to avoid Section 301 tariffs, and some said putting comparable tariffs on Vietnamese imports would cause companies to relocate back to China.
Witnesses from the furniture and cabinet sector in both Vietnam and the U.S. argued that Vietnam has greatly improved its governance over illegal imports of tropical wood and, to whatever degree illegal imports still exist, that wood is not then exported to U.S. buyers.
Metal importers and a senior Republican staffer in the House of Representatives agreed that the Commerce Department's revisions to its Section 232 exclusions process are somewhat of an improvement, but they diverge in their opinions of how helpful the changes will be for the industry. The revisions were announced in an interim final rule published Dec. 14 (see 2012100047); some elements have already taken effect, and others take effect Dec. 29. However, the agency is still accepting comments on the revisions through Feb. 12, 2021.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, joined by five Republicans and two Democrats on the committee, told the Office of Management and Budget that a proposed rule to carve out items under Section 301 tariffs from de minimis needs “a thorough and complete review,” including a public comment period of 60 days. However, the letter was not signed by either of the two men who might be the chairman in January, depending on which party controls the Senate.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, won't be leading the Senate Finance Committee next year but said “it's going to take more than a few minutes between staff to work things out” on how to change the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. “I’m open to some of the things the Democrats hope to get in GSP,” he said Dec. 23 on a phone call with reporters, noting he's interested in promoting human rights, environmental protections and labor standards in other countries. But “some industries and segments of our economy” are going to suffer because the tariff preferences expired, he said. “And it’s just too bad.”
Demand shocks, input shortages and some regulatory roadblocks are the primary reasons for shortages of N95 masks, medical-grade gloves and gowns, ventilators and other goods needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Trade Commission wrote in a report released Dec. 22, after a request from the committees that oversee trade policy in Congress.
The Generalized System of Preferences and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill will expire at the end of the year, as neither provision moved with the end-of-year spending bill and COVID-19 relief package.
Foreign-trade zone users will no longer be able to claim tariff benefits under USMCA when the products manufactured in those zones meet the free trade agreement's rules of origin. However, none of the producers had yet been able to avoid tariffs on inputs, National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones CEO Erik Autor told International Trade Today Dec. 21, as there had been no administrative process at CBP to implement the change.