U.S. policy for customs valuation, import licensing and rules of origin, as well as the U.S. trade remedy regime and a range of other trade policies, have gone unchanged since the last U.S. trade policy review at the World Trade Organization, said the WTO in a summary (here). The WTO last reviewed the U.S. in 2012. U.S. free trade agreement partners are, however, selling more goods to the U.S., but preference program imports are declining, likely due to the Generalized System of Preferences expiration, said the review. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties investigations surged in recent years, particularly with steel products in 2013, the WTO added. Further, the 2014 Farm Bill eliminated two “long-standing pillars of dairy market support – price supports and export subsidies.”
International Trade Today sat down with incoming House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, on Dec. 11 at his office on Capitol Hill to discuss plans on trade. This is part two of the interview. Part 1 ran in our Dec. 11 edition (see 1412110030). Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Unfair South African antidumping duties on U.S. poultry products are jeopardizing the country’s beneficiary status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, said Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in a Dec. 9 letter to South African President Jacob Zuma (here). Set to expire in September 2015, AGOA provides duty-free access for sub-Saharan African exports, including agricultural goods, to the U.S. market. President Barack Obama chose to keep South Africa in the preference program in June, despite some speculation that the Obama administration would graduate the country from AGOA due to its economic growth (see 14062706).
Apparel company VF Corp. and the International Finance Corporation together lent an initial $1.3 million to three Bangladeshi factories for fire prevention and infrastructure upgrading, the companies said on Dec. 8 (here). "Through the financing arrangement, VF provides a full corporate guarantee for up to $10 million" in loans to VF’s contract suppliers, it said. VF, which owns Timberland, The North Face, Nautica and other apparel brands, is one of 26 members of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, an industry group American companies spearheaded in mid-2013 following a series of Bangladeshi labor disasters (see 13071613). The loans went to factory owners Arunima Sportswear, Olio Apparels, and Radisson Apparel. The Obama administration removed Bangladesh's Generalized System of Preferences beneficiary status due to labor conditions earlier this year (see 14042405).
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the top Republican trade official in the Senate tore into President Barack Obama’s commitment to Trade Promotion Authority in recent days, saying he is not doing enough even after delivering a strong message of support for the trade agenda in comments on Dec. 3 (see 1412040025). At a press conference on Dec. 4, Boehner said Obama needs to ramp up efforts to build bipartisan support so TPA can pass the House. “I’ve been trying to do Trade Promotion Authority for three years, but that’s hard to do when the president won’t even stand up and ask it,” said Boehner (here).
The House passed on Dec. 3 the high-profile tax extenders legislation with an overwhelmingly supportive 378-46 vote in favor, but the measure advanced without amendment and is now sent to the Senate. Some trade supporters hoped lawmakers would tack trade bills, such as Generalized System of Preferences renewal, onto the extenders legislation. Senate Democratic leadership have not yet scheduled a vote on the tax bill.
The House is set to vote on the tax extender proposal introduced by Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., on Dec. 3, but the legislation is almost guaranteed to advance without trade legislation tacked on, said trade and tax analysts, along with an industry representative. But House Republican leadership stopped short of scheduling a vote on the extender bill, a collection of dozens of tax breaks, only saying that the chamber may consider the legislation (here).
Outgoing House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., introduced legislation on Dec. 1 to retroactively renew a set of tax breaks for only one year, following a White House veto threat on a tax extender package previously brokered between Camp and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Trade supporters have eyed the tax extenders bill as a possible vehicle for Generalized System of Preferences renewal, along with other trade legislation (see 1411170027). But President Barack Obama and a chorus of Democrats assailed the Camp-Reid deal as serving predominately large corporations.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 17-21 in case they were missed.
The House Republican Steering Committee recommended Paul Ryan to be the next Ways and Means Committee chairman on Nov. 18 (here). That recommendation was largely expected despite a fight from Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas (see 14092532). The Steering Committee made only informal recommendations for leadership on all House committees, and the caucus will vote on the recommendations later in the week.