The U.S. is bound to its own trade laws over the dictates of international bodies like the World Trade Organization, and could choose to disregard instructions of oppositional WTO dispute panel rulings that impinge U.S. sovereignty, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative indicated in its annual report to Congress (here), sent March 1. The Financial Times obtained and posted the report online. “Ever since the United States won its independence, it has been a basic principle of our country that American citizens are subject only to laws and regulations made by U.S. government -- not rulings made by foreign governments or international bodies," the USTR said. "This principle remains true today. Accordingly, the Trump Administration will aggressively defend American sovereignty over matters of trade policy.” The report states elsewhere that U.S. sovereignty considerations will play a central role in trade policy development.
Section 201 Safeguards
Section 201 or “safeguard” actions are steps the President can take to provide temporary relief for an industry through the imposition of tariffs or quotas to create a more competitive environment for said industry. Section 201 actions are considered consistent with U.S. international obligations if they conform to the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Safeguards. To enact Section 201 Safeguards, a U.S. company must first file a complaint with the International Trade Commission, which then makes a determination if the industry is injured by the importation of the goods in question. If the investigation is affirmative, the President may enact the safeguards.
The United Steelworkers on April 22 withdrew a recently filed petition for Section 201 safeguard duties on unwrought aluminum from China, “suspending” its bid for additional duties as high as 50 percent to address factory closures due to global overcapacity, it said (here). The labor union says many in industry opposed the safeguard petition, putting their “short-term interests over the long-term viability of the sector,” said its statement. “This opposition could have resulted in no relief for the remaining domestic industry and our members.” Nonetheless, the short-lived petition “sparked long-overdue discussions that we hope will lead to a coordinated effort to address” Chinese overcapacity and market-distorting behavior,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., according to the USW statement. The April 18 petition sought four years of safeguard duties starting at 50 percent on primary unwrought aluminum (see 1604180021).
The United Steelworkers labor union filed a petition on April 18 with the International Trade Commission seeking Section 201 safeguard duties of up to 50 percent on imports of unwrought aluminum. The petition seeks four years of safeguard duties on primary unwrought aluminum smelted from alumina, with secondary unwrought aluminum made from melting down scrap exempt. Provisional safeguard duties could be imposed within 90 days (i.e., by mid-July).
A possible multilateral deal with U.S. allies, promotion of upgraded standards in other countries, and Trans-Pacific Partnership rules for state-owned enterprises are among the measures that will help the U.S. crack down on overcapacity and dumping of steel products that has strangled U.S. production, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on April 12 during a hearing on global steel overcapacity and dumping. During the hearing at the International Trade Commission, hosted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department, industry and government officials discussed possible steps that can be taken to address steel industry issues, including safeguard duties and enhanced antidumping duty enforcement.
The following summary details U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s final rule, effective October 3, 2011, to implement the changes it proposed in 2008 to the 19 CFR 102 country of origin tariff shift and other rules (often referred to as the NAFTA origin Marking Rules1) for certain pipe fittings and flanges, greeting cards, glass optical fiber, rice preparations, and textile and apparel products.
The following are highlights of the House Ways and Means Committee's section-by-section summary of the draft U.S.-South Korea (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement Implementing Act, which would establish the necessary conditions for the FTA to enter into force.
The following are highlights of the House Ways and Means Committee's section-by-section summaries of the draft U.S.-Colombia, and U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreements Implementing Acts, which would establish the necessary conditions for the free trade agreements to enter into force.
On July 25, 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published a proposed rule to amend its regulations in order to uniformly apply the tariff shift and other rules in 19 CFR Part 1021 to allcountry of origin or "product of" determinations made under the customs and related laws, the navigation laws of the U.S., and the CBP regulations, unless:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice on the CAFTA-DR tariff rate quotas (TRQs) that have been implemented for the March 1, 2006 - December 31, 2006 period for certain "qualifying" agricultural products (except sugar) from El Salvador, the only country to date that the U.S. has implemented the CAFTA-DR for.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued an interim final rule to, among other things, modify and extend the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) System through March 21, 2009. In addition, this interim final rule modifies the list of specific products subject to automatic steel import licensing.