Seven years after the U.S. imposed antidumping and countervailing duties on South Korean large residential washers, the World Trade Organization has given South Korea the go-ahead to retaliate on American exports up to $84.81 million, just over a tenth of what the country had sought.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum won't happen until November, but a panel of a State Department envoy, a former Office of the U.S. Trade Representative negotiator, Singapore's ambassador and Google's head of global trade policy talked about what might be accomplished there during a Feb. 5 panel.
Customs brokers should remain a key part of the global supply chain as CBP shifts to better operate in the modern trade environment, providing a “multiplier effect” to the agency’s education and data integrity efforts, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments to CBP dated Feb. 4. As e-commerce causes the number of importers to explode and the associated risks to increase accordingly, brokers should be considered “trusted partners, delivering the agency from the chaos of dealing with hundreds of thousands of importers,” the NCBFAA said.
The Internet Association criticized the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for seeking to raise de minimis levels on shipments from its neighbors as part of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (see 1901300009). "A consistent, high de minimis threshold benefits the entire American e-commerce system, including thousands of small businesses that use the internet to export and import," the group said in a statement Jan. 30. "USTR’s proposed provision in the implementing legislation would force small businesses to navigate a complicated, confusing net of customs rules.” Businesses have complained that even the concessions won in the text of the new NAFTA are complicated and confusing, because Mexico and Canada have different de minimis levels for sales taxes and for customs duties.
In order for importers to be able to create certificates of origin under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, U.S. law will have to change. That's one of dozens of changes to statutes that will need to happen to accommodate the changes between NAFTA and USMCA. The U.S. trade representative shared the six-page outline of the needed changes with Congress late on Jan. 29, fulfilling one of the steps under fast-track consideration of the trade pact. The document suggests that USTR is still seeking a lowering of U.S. de minimis levels specifically for Canada and Mexico (see 1810190043), since those countries did not raise their de minimis levels as much as the U.S. negotiators wished.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 22-25 in case they were missed.
The perspectives from Congress, Canada and Mexico -- and a former acting U.S. trade representative -- diverge wildly on how much can be changed in the new NAFTA to garner votes for approval and how difficult it will be to get it passed in 2019. Miriam Sapiro, who was acting USTR and is now with SVC Public Affairs, used the term “lovely miracle” to describe how she’d feel if it passed this year. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, said it's clear that the metals tariffs on Canada and Mexico -- without quotas -- have to have a date certain to come off before Congress members are really about to start “to count the noses.”
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species will consider changes to restrictions on trade in rosewood, ipe and padouk at its next Conference of the Parties at the end of May, according to a list of proposals set for consideration at the meeting. One amendment proposed by Canada and the European Union would replace the current exemption for non-commercial shipments of rosewood with a specific exemption for musical instruments and a de minimis level for rosewood in finished goods, whether or not commercial in nature.
EBay praised a bipartisan group of Congress members who want the U.S. trade representative to stop talking about "reciprocal" de minimis levels. There is a footnote to that effect in the new NAFTA (see 1810190043) that has drawn opposition from trade groups in the past (see 1811060010). But despite that, the USTR included the same language in negotiating priorities for both Japan and the European Union. The EU is on a path to have no de minimis level at all for tax purposes. EBay is critical of the de minimis increases USTR convinced Mexico and Canada to agree to, because there are lower tax de minimis levels than the duty de minimis of $117. The company called it "unnecessarily complicated."
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon progressive who supported fast track authority in 2015, will lead the House Ways and Means Committee's Trade Subcommittee, winning the seat instead of Rep. Bill Pascrell, the New Jersey Democrat who served as ranking member when the Democrats were in the minority. Blumenauer only chose to assert his seniority after his idea of an infrastructure financing committee didn't come to pass (see 1811140049). Blumenauer released a statement after his selection Jan. 16 that said: "We have an outstanding subcommittee primed to make progress and fight for Democratic values like meaningful, effective trade enforcement, access to affordable medicines, and strong environmental protections at home and abroad."