As Canadians consider which of 68 aluminum-containing products to put on a tariff retaliation list, U.S. industrial producers and buyers of aluminum reacted with dismay to the news that a large segment of Canadian aluminum imports will face a 10% tariff starting Aug. 16.
Amina Mohamed, Kenya's Sports, Culture and Heritage minister and its nominee to lead the World Trade Organization, said strengthening rules on industrial subsidies and reforming the Appellate Body are critical for the WTO's continued success.
The White House issued a proclamation Aug. 6 reimposing 10% tariffs on most Canadian aluminum imports starting Aug. 16. The tariffs will apply only to "imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum provided for in subheading 7601.10," which makes up the majority of U.S. aluminum imports from Canada, said the proclamation.
President Donald Trump on Aug. 6 said he signed a proclamation earlier in the day that will be reimposing 10% tariffs on Canadian aluminum. "Canada was taking advantage of us, as usual," he said. "The aluminum industry was being decimated by Canada." He said Canada has been flooding the U.S. with imports, and the U.S. Trade Representative told him that the return of the 10% tariff was "absolutely necessary" to preserve the U.S. aluminum industry. He was speaking at a Whirlpool plant in Clyde, Ohio.
There are no plans to automatically extend Section 301 tariff exclusions, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in answers to written questions from senators on the Finance Committee and members of the House Ways and Means Committee. When he was asked repeatedly by members of Congress if the exclusions would be extended automatically to help small businesses struggling due to the COVID-19 recession, he said no and that “USTR has not decided whether to possibly extend again the exclusions extended until the end of 2020.” Lighthizer testified at the hearings in June (see 2006180029 and 2006170008).
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the technical fixes to USMCA need to be done, and he hopes a technical fixes bill can pass the Senate by unanimous consent. The bill would allow refunds of merchandise processing fees in post-entry reconciliation (see 2007070056) and may also change treatment of foreign-trade zones, a change that those zones say is not a technical fix at all, but a policy change (see 2007200021).
A bipartisan bill introduced in the House last week would require protective gear in the national stockpile to be made by U.S. firms. The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., is similar to one introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., (see 2007280032) and part of the Republican proposal for COVID-19 relief.
Buyers of transformers and transformer components have formed a trade group called The Core Coalition to argue that imports of transformers, cores, laminations and other transformer inputs “do not threaten the national security of the United States,” even if those imports increased after tariffs were placed on steel.
British Member of Parliament Liam Fox said his experience as United Kingdom trade minister qualifies him to lead the World Trade Organization as director-general. Political skills, not technical ones, are needed in Geneva, he said during a July 30 Washington International Trade Association webinar.
Pushing back against geographical indications for food names and wine names needs to be a priority “in all trade-related discussions,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., argued in a letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on July 30. Fifty-nine other senators joined the letter. Without naming the European Union, they said, “Our competitors continue to employ trade negotiations around the world to prohibit American-made products from using common food names and wine grape varietal designations or traditional terms, such as bologna, parmesan, chateau, and feta, which have been in use for decades.” Farm and agricultural industries issued a press release in support of the letter.