U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal did not announce any breakthroughs after their Jan. 11 meeting, but their joint statement pointed to some trade irritants that might be resolved in the future.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top 20 stories published in 2022. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference numbers.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Inform Consumers Act, which will require online platforms to verify high-volume third-party sellers, and to make those sellers' contact information available to the public, was included in the massive year-end spending bill that became law Dec. 23.
The International Trade Administration will receive a major increase in funding from the last fiscal year, a bump from $559 million to $625 million, the more than 4,000-page annual appropriations bill says. Of that, $16.4 million is dedicated for China antidumping and countervailing duty enforcement and compliance, exactly what the administration asked for (see 2203280048).
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The omnibus spending bill, the last legislative vehicle of this Congress, did not include a renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program or the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. The tariff relief will have been gone for more than two years, as a result.
The American Action Forum said it is disappointed that the Democrats are using the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill as bargaining chips to get Trade Adjustment Assistance restored. The lobbying group called TAA controversial, and wrote, "In short, members trade new free trade agreements and new markets for this contested aid program, not common-sense tariff elimination." The AAF said it seems unlikely that the "grand bargain" sought by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, that would wrap all four of those issues and antidumping reform into one package, can get on the omnibus, which could be passed next week. "It’s time for Congress to stop holding GSP and MTB hostage to its usual bartering and allow these programs to get back to saving Americans money," the group wrote Dec. 13.
Although the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee hearing was ostensibly about using trade agreements to promote environmental causes, Republicans on the dais mostly focused on their frustration that the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill have not been renewed, even though they have been lapsed for nearly two years.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.