Eleven of the 49 Democratic senators have told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that the inputs for manufacturing protective gowns and masks and finished masks and surgical gowns should not continue to receive exclusions to Section 301 duties. The previous administration decided that goods needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic should not face higher tariffs, but these senators, led by Ohio's Sen. Sherrod Brown and Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin, argue that domestic manufacturers need the tariff barrier to be competitive.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, speaking at a virtual trade ministers meeting of African Growth and Opportunity Act participants, said that while AGOA improved the export competitiveness of many African products and fostered regional integration, its utilization of it has been limited. She said at the Oct. 20 meeting: "Despite these successes, only a handful of countries have taken significant advantage of AGOA.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Congressional-Executive Commission on China Co-Chairman Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and ranking member Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., asked the CEO of Universal Electronics to explain who authorized the hiring of transferred Uyghur laborers at its Chinese factories, what the daily reports to the police about those Uyghurs say, and what documentation the company has to back up its assertion that none of its Chinese factories use forced labor.
The co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and two prominent Republicans also on the commission asked the acting CBP commissioner if the agency has stopped imports under the Xinjiang cotton withhold release order from companies that have advertised that they use Xinjiang cotton. Their letter listed 38 companies, mostly Chinese brands, but also Hugo Boss, Asics and FILA. The letter had a footnote that said Hugo Boss said that a comment on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter supporting Xinjiang cotton was not authorized and was pulled down.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Oct. 21 that the U.S. will not impose tariffs on goods from European countries over digital services taxes, as those countries have reached a settlement with the Treasury Department about the transition from DSTs to a new approach to taxing multinational firms. The agreement covers suspended tariffs on goods from Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Austria -- all those proposed tariffs will now be terminated, not just suspended.
The Tariff Reform Coalition, which includes trade associations representing major metal consumers such as automakers, boat manufacturers, the beer industry and machinists, as well as exporters hurt by retaliatory tariffs, sent a letter to senators asking them to support the Section 232 tariff reform bill re-introduced this month by Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Mark Warner, D-Va. The Oct. 19 letter, signed by 27 trade groups, said that the bill (see 2110050040) would ensure "that all national interests are taken into account prior to the imposition of tariffs or quotas. These interests were not properly weighed in the case of steel and aluminum and our industries are still reeling from the effects of these tariffs.... Invoking national security as a justification to protect a few industries, to the detriment of countless others, sets a bad example for the rest of the world and opens the door for other countries to take similar actions." They noted that if the bill becomes law, and then if Congress does not approve the steel and aluminum tariffs within 75 days, they would be repealed.
An executive with a logistics company with more than 100,000 customers talked about tariffs as a contributor to supply chain strains. So did the owner of a 200-person candy manufacturer, and a board member from the National Association of Home Builders. While tariffs were not the top concern for businesses mentioned at the hearing on how global supply chain kinks are hurting small businesses, companies said lifting them, even temporarily, would ease the pain of high shipping costs.
Senate Democrats would like to increase funding for CBP's Office of Trade by $10 million to better identify and prevent entry of goods made with forced labor, and an additional $10 million for trade enforcement, including the 21st Century Framework initiative, enforcement of safeguard and sections 232 and 301 tariffs, and going after online counterfeiting.
Even with the surge of migrants crossing the Mexican border, the nominee to lead CBP fielded plenty of questions on trade during his appearance in front of the Senate Finance Committee. Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told him, "This committee has a special interest in ensuring that CBP’s trade mission doesn’t get short shrift. Enforcing trade laws vigorously and working to stay a step ahead of trade cheats is key to protecting jobs, businesses and innovators in America, and CBP is right at the heart of that challenge. Too often in the past, including during the Trump administration, trade enforcement has been a secondary issue for CBP." He said his committee "is going to continue looking for ways to strengthen our trade enforcement even further."
Amazon is calling for legislation to allow CBP to share information about suspected counterfeiters with platforms and logistics companies, providing examples of how such information sharing worked to stop counterfeiters. In a just-published policy paper, Amazon said it received a tip from CBP about Champion-branded earbud cases, and "immediately quarantined the counterfeiter’s additional inventory in our fulfillment network and terminated their accounts." The tip led to HanesBrands bringing a civil lawsuit against 13 counterfeiters.