Parties wishing to appear at a Dec. 29 online hearing on alleged Vietnamese currency manipulation must make a request to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative by Dec. 10, including a testimony summary. The Section 301 investigation will examine how the intervention in exchange rates in Vietnam burdens American commerce. After the hearing, rebuttals can be submitted until 11:59 p.m. Jan. 7, 2021.
House Ways and Means Committee member Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., has a district full of farms growing grapes, berries, lettuce, artichokes, garlic or other non-commodity crops. His constituents want export markets, so opening trade negotiations is popular in Central California. Panetta, who was interviewed online by the Washington International Trade Association on Nov. 23, said there needs to be a lot of education in the Democratic caucus on why a renewal of Trade Promotion Authority is important before it expires July 1.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said there should be “a reset of our trade agenda,” with less emphasis on tariffs “and more emphasis on international cooperation and multilateral relationships.” Neal, who was speaking to the New England Council on Nov. 23, said that “keeping the heat on China is important, but simultaneously, tariffs are not the only way to do it.”
Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden's choice for secretary of state, has said that the Section 301 tariffs on China and Section 232 tariffs on Europe “harm our own people,” according to coverage of a U.S. Chamber of Commerce talk he gave in September. “We would use tariffs when they’re needed, but backed by a strategy and a plan,” he added. Blinken, who served as deputy secretary of state under President Barack Obama, said, “The EU is the largest market in the world. We need to improve our economic relations, and we need to bring to an end an artificial trade war that the Trump administration has started,” Reuters reported from the Chamber talk.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he has no substantive regrets about the policies his office has spearheaded that have raised tariffs on products from around the world. He said the next USTR will also have to prioritize American manufacturers over inexpensive imports, and treat China as a threat. “Those things are going to endure and people will continue to make progress on them,” he said during an evening webinar Nov. 19.
In a Joe Biden administration, some tariffs can be unilaterally withdrawn, but others would require complex negotiations to sort out, said Peterson Institute for International Economics nonresident senior fellow Anabel Gonzalez. She asked PIIE Senior Fellow Chad Bown and former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman where they think the new administration's energies should be directed, during a Nov. 18 webinar.
Implementation of the USMCA isn't the level of change that's expected to add costs to Toyota, according to Leila Afas, director of international policy for Toyota North America. “We fortunately are in a very good position,” she said in response to a question from International Trade Today during a Nov. 19 webinar hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She said Toyota sources a lot of its engines and transmissions in the U.S.
The co-chairmen of the U.S.-India Caucus in the Senate did not bring up restoring India to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program when asked about the possibility of a U.S.-India trade package during a program hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Nov. 18. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., instead said he hopes the Joe Biden administration will pursue a technology alliance with India. He also said he thinks withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- which does not include India -- was a great mistake. “Both political parties bear some blame for that,” he said. Sen John Cornyn, R-Texas, agreed on TPP. “We’ll see what happens in Georgia,” he said, referring to the run-off elections for two Republican incumbents vying for the two U.S. Senate seats in that state later this year. “We may have divided government, it may require us all to work together.”
Steptoe & Johnson trade lawyers say that although President-elect Joe Biden will be interested in repairing strained relationships with the European Union, and will be less inclined to use unconventional trade tools like Section 232 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the trend of policymakers pushing reshoring and decoupling won't abate.
The U.S. and eight other countries speaking at the World Trade Organization said they're concerned about the expected proposal from the European Union to implement a carbon border tax as part of its climate change mitigation policy. The proposal is expected next year. A Geneva trade official said the EU started the discussion at a Committee on Trade and the Environment meeting Nov. 16. The countries that are concerned want to make sure subsidies for EU industries in green energy will be fair; that costs aren't borne only by producers; and that any action is WTO-compliant.