The U.S. is asking Mexico to review whether an Industrias del Interior (INISA) garment factory near Aguascalientes is coercing workers by favoring workers who support the company's collective bargaining agreement and disciplining -- and dismissing -- workers if they support the union Sindicato de Industrias del Interior. The administration made the announcement June 12. It is the first complaint not in the auto sector.

Countries in the Five Eyes Alliance, plus Japan, have issued a joint declaration on non-market practices and trade related economic coercion that they say "undermine the functioning of and confidence in the rules-based multilateral trading system by distorting trade, investment, and competition and harming relations between countries."

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked the International Trade Commission to produce a report on the greenhouse gas emissions in the domestic steel and aluminum sectors, "which will help to inform discussions with the European Union regarding the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum."

An automotive parts casting foundry, part of a Mexican industrial conglomerate known as Grupo Industrial Saltillo, is the subject of the latest rapid response labor complaint from the U.S., as the administration argues that the approximately 500 workers at the Draxton foundry in Irapuato, Guanajuato, were harassed and intimidated when they tried to organize a new union. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative also says the workers had to vote on a contract in 2022 without seeing it, and they still don't have a copy of the contract.

Mexico, Canada and the U.S. will hold a USMCA Labor Council virtual public session on implementation of the treaty's labor chapter on June 29. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is inviting comments ahead of the meeting, and asking for registration to participate in the two-and-a-half-hour virtual meeting that begins at 1 p.m. EDT. Registration details will be available on the USTR and Department of Labor websites starting June 1. Comments should be sent to ILAB-Outreach@DOL.gov and MBX.USTR.USMCAhotline@ustr.eop.gov with the subject line USMCA Labor Council Meeting.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she and Australia’s Trade Minister Don Farrell, meeting on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers' meeting, agreed the negotiations on the trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity have been constructive.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai brought up China's nonmarket approach to trade, and how it causes "critical imbalances," according to a readout of her May 26 meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

The Biden administration is using the USMCA rapid response mechanism in the case of a Goodyear factory in San Luis Potosí, arguing that the way Goodyear can ensure its tires' eligibility for tariff benefits is to grant the countrywide rubber workers' contract.

The U.S. and Taiwan completed five chapters of a trade agreement similar to the issues under discussion in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the U.S. announced late May 18.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seeks comments in connection with its annual review of the eligibility of countries for benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, USTR said. The agency will consider, among other things, whether to restore or revoke eligibility for sub-Saharan African countries covered by AGOA. Countries found ineligible for AGOA in 2023 include Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Equatorial Guinea (graduated from GSP; ineligible for consideration for AGOA benefits); Eritrea; Ethiopia; Guinea; Mali; Mauritania; Seychelles (graduated from GSP; ineligible for consideration for AGOA benefits); Somalia (requested consideration for AGOA benefits for the first time this year); South Sudan; Sudan (did not request designation as an AGOA beneficiary country); and Zimbabwe. USTR will hold a virtual public hearing on July 24. The deadline for requests to appear and for written comments is July 7.