When asked if decoupling renewal of two tariff-lifting programs from a reauthorization of Trade Adjustment Assistance is a non-starter, House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., told International Trade Today, "Well, I'd certainly want to discuss it with [Republicans] ... they all have to be done in some shape or form."
During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing focused on expanding trade with Taiwan, ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chose to put in a word for trade preference programs that expired at the end of 2020. "It was a mistake to allow two crucial job-creating programs, GSP and MTB, to have expired. They have now lapsed for almost two years," Brady said, referring to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. "Inaction on these key programs is causing American companies and their workers to lose out to foreign competitors, and additional delay will only increase this impact."
Trade facilitation -- or how customs is administered -- and digital trade practices are non-tariff barriers that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework can tackle, and therefore help U.S. exporters, particularly small businesses. That was the message from a senior official at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which is managing one of the four pillars of the IPEF.
CBP has no basis to consider a country’s non-market economy status when determining whether to grant first sale treatment to a transaction, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Aug. 11 in a widely anticipated decision involving cookware imported by Meyer.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative heard from business groups, businesses that offer traceability solutions and civil society groups, 45 in all, on how to shape a forced labor strategy -- but their views diverged strongly on what the approach should be.
The Coalition for GSP released a new analysis of trade data that says $1.7 billion was paid in tariffs that would have been eliminated through the Generalized System of Preferences from the benefits program's expiration through the end of June. Importers who want to take advantage of GSP mark those entries as such, because their tariffs will be refunded once it is renewed.
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.
House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said that even though the politics around an end-of-year tax extender may change if Congress makes some renewable energy tax credits permanent, he believes it's still likely that the modernization act for the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill can get done by the end of the year.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaking on the floor of the Senate just before the CHIPS bill passed, said he wants the conference committee for the House and Senate China packages to continue negotiating.
Importers of finished goods and manufacturing inputs told the International Trade Commission across three days of testimony that the Section 301 tariffs are damaging profit margins, and in some cases lead to layoffs. But some unions and manufacturers said the Section 301 tariffs are deserved for Chinese abuses, and with the tariffs in place, the goods they make are more competitive. The International Trade Commission is studying the efficacy of Section 301 and Section 232 tariffs, and their economic impact.