U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that she's committed to pushing for WTO reforms "that will strengthen the organization’s ability to deliver for American workers amidst significant global challenges." Their Oct. 13 meeting was the subject of a USTR readout. Tai said they also talked about the next phase of fisheries subsidies negotiations.

After saying they were conscious of one year left on their self-imposed deadline, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis "agreed to increase the pace of discussions about the global steel arrangement," according to a readout of the Oct. 13 meeting provided by USTR. The EU and U.S. are working on a way to restrict access to their markets for steel that is higher in embedded greenhouse gas emissions, as well as protecting their markets from exports from countries creating non-economic overcapacity (see 2210130068).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced changes to Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers listed under exclusions from Section 301 tariffs effective for goods have either not been liquidated, or where entries that were liquidated but are not yet final, as of Oct. 14, according to a Federal Register notice released Oct. 13. The changes implement recent revisions to the tariff schedule, including those that took effect Jan. 1, 2022, and July 1, 2022, that affect subheadings previously listed as eligible for the exclusions. See USTR's notice for a full list of changes.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said concentration of wealth, de-industrialization, the decimation of factory towns and fragile supply chains were consequences of "aggressive liberalization and tariff elimination" over the last 40 years.

Having received no requests to testify on Russia's fulfillment of its international trade commitments as a World Trade Organization member, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a notice it's canceling the planned Oct. 4 virtual public hearing on Russia's compliance, meant to inform USTR's report to Congress.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative wants Congress to bring back the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, it announced Sept. 29, and it wants Congress to consider designating countries in the Pacific Islands Forum that are developing countries as a regional association.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she had an informal dialogue about the World Trade Organization dispute settlement system with representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, India and South Africa. Tai was in Bali, Indonesia, for a G-20 trade ministers meeting, and the discussion happened on the sidelines of that meeting.

The Border Trade Alliance, which previously came out against a Florida request to the administration to open a Section 301 investigation on produce imports from Mexico, sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on the matter Sept. 21.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a technical correction to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to reflect the eligibility of Curacao for duty-free import provisions for certain apparel and textile luggage. The agency’s notice adds Curacao to the list of countries in Note 7(b) to subchapter II of Chapter 98 of the HTS, effective Sept. 22. The country had not been added to the note even though it was declared eligible in 2015.

Talk of a potential “early harvest” partial deal on trade from Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) talks is a “little premature,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said during a call with reporters early on Sept. 19. In Cambodia for talks with Association of Southeast Asian Nations ministers, Tai said the U.S. is “coming into this with a lot of ambition, and again, a lot of motivation,” and is focused on making sure “that we are engaging robustly across all components of the trade pillar because all of them are important.” Tai said it remains to be seen “just how fast we can get to our deliverables,” but that the U.S. is “focused on speed, agility, and also on being practical.”