The numbers of seizures of fentanyl precursor drugs at U.S. airports is beginning to decline as China cracks down on its manufacturers, administration officials said during a call with reporters.
President Joe Biden, in his explanation for his veto of a bill that would have disapproved the Federal Highway Administration's waiver of Buy America requirements for EV chargers, said that the general waiver for manufactured products at the FHWA is weaker than this specific waiver.
Presidential proclamations for Section 232 steel tariff rate quotas for EU countries, and for tariff rate quotas for aluminum, were published Dec. 28, with no changes to aggregate volume from the last two-year deal. The new quotas will last through the end of 2025.
An administration Council on Supply Chain Resilience, which includes the head of every Cabinet-level agency except the Education Department, held its first meeting, with the goal of maintaining resilient supply chains.
China said it will curb exports of precursor chemicals that make fentanyl and other synthetic opiates, after a previous crackdown on fentanyl trafficking led to the chemicals being sent to Mexico, where cartels turn them into opiates.
Indonesia and the U.S. pledged together to take concrete steps to advance "occupational safety and health and fair wages and ensure employers uphold internationally recognized labor standards and comply with domestic labor law" in Indonesia's mines and processing facilities, as well as work to lower greenhouse gas emissions in their mineral supply chains, "including efforts to seek to promote clean and low-emission power for mineral processing."
President Joe Biden isn’t planning to bring up issues surrounding Section 301 tariffs in a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California on Nov. 15, a senior administration official said during a call with reporters last week. The official said the “question of economic and trade relationship” will be discussed, but the two leaders likely won’t delve into specifics.
The U.S. already has free trade agreements with most of the dozen countries in the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP), however, the nations want to strengthen regional economic integration.
President Joe Biden issued a statement asking Congress "to reauthorize AGOA in a timely fashion and to modernize this important Act for the economic opportunities of the coming decade."
Mauritania will participate in the African Growth and Opportunity Act program and receive benefits next year, since it has made progress in ending hereditary slavery, but Ethiopia, which was expelled from participation due to human rights violations during a rebel uprising, won't be allowed back in.