Singapore recently completed negotiations with Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru on the Pacific Alliance-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Aug. 4. The treaty is expected to be signed in December, making Singapore the Pacific Alliance's first Asia-Pacific associate state and allowing it access to the world’s eighth-largest exporting bloc, HKTDC said. Singapore's exporters are expected to benefit from tariff concessions, faster market entry and preferential market access.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told an audience at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit that she wants to meet with her African counterparts later this year "to discuss how we can build on the successes of the African Growth and Opportunity Act." The meeting will be virtual, she said. She said she wants to talk about anticorruption, good regulatory practices and labor and environmental standards with other top trade officials. "As we continue to develop our trade policy with respect to Africa, I also want to hear from businesses, civic organizations, labor leaders, and workers. There are far too many communities that have been left out from trade, labor, and development policy that was enacted without their input," she said in a speech July 27. She also offered technical assistance to countries implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Mexico's Economy Secretary, Tatiana Clouthier, said she talked about Mexico's concerns about the auto rules of origin with the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the ranking members of that committee and of the Senate Finance Committee, two other Republican senators, and four business groups, including two auto manufacturing trade groups, as well as a major aerospace manufacturer.

The Airbus settlement paves the way for collaboration on shared challenges, "including those posed by the anti-competitive practices of China and other non-market economies," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she and British Trade Secretary Liz Truss agreed during their meeting July 13. According to the USTR's readout of the meeting, both leaders "stressed the importance of fair competition in the global economy and agreed to work together both bilaterally and through multilateral fora to promote fair competition, enhance the international trade system, and address forced labor issues. Ambassador Tai and Secretary Truss committed to continue strengthening the trade and economic partnership between the United States and United Kingdom."

The British International Trade Secretary is meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, and what she called "leading Democrats," before heading to meet with California businesses and investors to round out the five-day trip. Secretary Liz Truss said she will speak with Tai on how the U.S. and the United Kingdom can cooperate more closely to "combat market-distorting trade practices such as industrial subsidies and dumping, as well as [pursue] working together to defend workers and companies that play by the rules against unfair practices in the global trading system, by combating forced labour and strengthening supply-chain resilience."

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Mexican Economy Secretary Tatiana Clouthier and Canadian International Trade Minister Mary Ng will meet in Mexico City July 7, to continue the dialogue they started online at the Free Trade Commission meeting in May (see 2105180059).

Taiwan and the U.S. had their first official meeting under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement since 2016, and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Terry McCartin praised Taiwan for improving its enforcement of trade secrets protections, and its plan to change its medical device approval process.

The top trade officials in the U.S., Canada and Mexico gathered virtually to celebrate the one-year anniversary of USMCA, which is July 1, with Canadian and Mexican ministers emphasizing the worth of integrated supply chains and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai emphasizing the elements of USMCA that protect workers in the region and around the world. Tai said at a Wilson Center program June 30, "A good next step in this increased cooperation can be on the issue of forced labor. The USMCA includes a strong obligation to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor. Working together to address this critical economic and moral issue would send a powerful message to the world."

China and Singapore completed their second round of follow-up negotiations last week to upgrade their free trade agreement, China’s Commerce Ministry said in a June 25 notice. The talks, held from June 17 to June 25, included an “in-depth” discussion on rules governing “cross-border service trade, investment, and telecommunications,” according to an unofficial translation of the notice.

The moderator of a panel on the results of the president's visit to Europe asked the European Union's ambassador to the U.S., Stavros Lambrinidis, what he would say to critics who say that nothing was solved on the EU-U.S. irritants? Those critics say that the can was just kicked down the road.