The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said he “would really like to see” the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill move quickly, but the time and attention needed to pass COVID-19 relief measures may get in the way. “I don’t know how much oxygen the COVID stimulus bill will suck up in Congress,” Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said Jan. 28.
Trade advocates and a trade scholar discussed how effective U.S.-Asia sectoral agreements could be, as well as the possible downsides of such agreements, during an Asia Society Policy Institute webinar Jan. 26. The Japan mini-deal was not exactly a sectoral deal because it lowered tariffs on a variety of products across different categories, but the agreement's digital trade plank is one that negotiators could consider as a template for a digital trade accord across more Asian countries.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Jan. 11-15 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Thompson Hine lawyer David Schwartz said he thinks the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill will be renewed as soon as the bill can be introduced and get through the two chambers of Congress. But Schwartz, speaking on a Jan. 19 webinar put on by the law firm, said there are enough voices there asking for changes to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program that he doesn't expect it to get a vote until the shape of that reform is hammered out. House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., wants new requirements on countries to get the tariff breaks, including environmental enforcement, political pluralism, work on reducing poverty and combating corruption (see 2012080049).
In a week, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, will become the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, but he will retain a seat on the Finance Committee, and he said he'll still be working on trade issues in 2021. Grassley said that it would “be a lot easier” to pass legislation renewing the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill than to renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, since Democrats have proposed numerous changes to GSP that would make eligibility more difficult for developing countries. “But I believe because the Democrats have tied them together, we won’t get it done until we get some compromise done with them on Generalized [System of] Preferences,” he told International Trade Today during a conference call with reporters Jan. 14.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said further decoupling from China is certain if China doesn't do more to step up on industrial subsidies, intellectual property rights protection, trade secret theft and other U.S. companies' priorities. Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs for the Chamber, told reporters on a Jan. 13 call that there's not much political space for incoming President Joe Biden to roll back tariffs, even as his campaign was critical of the economic consequences of the trade war.
A Republican congresswoman who has been the biggest critic of the Section 232 exclusion process told National Foreign Trade Council webinar listeners that, “I’m hoping for the best under this administration. We’ve suffered a lot under [Section] 232 and 301.” Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., added that “I can’t wait to see it start unraveling.” Walorski, who claimed Jan. 12 that “we were kind of in this battle” with President Donald Trump over the broadness of the China tariffs, voted against certifying Biden's Electoral College victory last week.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, introduced a bill Jan. 6 that would bar countries that aren't following international environmental obligations or enforcing their environmental laws from participating in the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. Currently, GSP is not in effect. In the previous Congress, Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., introduced a bill (see 2012080049) that included this plank, as well as eligibility predicated on whether the country is making continual progress toward establishing “the rule of law, political pluralism, the right to due process, a fair trial and equal protection under the law,” and whether those countries are working to “reduce poverty, increase the availability of health care and educational opportunities,” and combat corruption. All legislation introduced last year has to be reintroduced in the new Congress to be considered.
The International Trade Commission posted the 2021 Preliminary Edition of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The new HTS implements the removal of GSP benefits for many Thai products, as well as the redesignation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as eligible for African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits, and the extension of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act until 2020. New statistical breakouts are also added for many medical products, including those used in the treatment of COVID-19, as well as for industrial turbines and hemp seed, among other goods. Changes take effect Jan. 1, 2021, unless otherwise noted.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories published in 2020 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference numbers.