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.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 11-17:
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).
European Union Director General for Trade Sabine Weyand told an audience Jan. 15 that resolving punitive tariffs are “a prerequisite for creating a good atmosphere” so that the EU and the U.S. can coordinate on confronting China's trade abuses and creating a carbon border adjustment.
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.
In a Jan. 12 speech to the National Foreign Trade Council, a business group that promotes free trade, President-elect Joe Biden's choice for U.S. trade representative said “U.S. trade policy must benefit regular Americans, communities and workers.” Katherine Tai added that it “starts with recognizing that people are not just consumers. They are also workers.”
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 4-10:
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.
National Foreign Trade Council panelists addressing the future of U.S.-China relations agreed that the political climate won't allow President Joe Biden to reverse the Section 301 tariffs on China, even though they think those tariffs haven't been effective in achieving their goal of changing the competitive playing field with Chinese firms.