A new report summarizing town halls convened by Farmers for Free Trade says the elimination of the steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico “went a long way toward stabilizing these export markets,” and that grain prices have recovered, but that more free trade deals are critical to support farmers and rural economies. The report, released Dec. 15, was highlighted in a webinar.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Dec. 7-11 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently paved the way for an importer of Turkish steel to get Section 232 tariff refunds on Turkish steel paid as a result of a tariff increase in 2018, though CIT declined a request to compel immediate payment of the refunds.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., says that the new administration should prioritize a free trade deal with the European Union following the template of USMCA, saying President Donald Trump's abandonment of serious trade talks with Europe was a “particularly detrimental blunder.”
The Commerce Department will make some changes to processes used on requests for exclusion from the Section 232, it said in an interim final rule released Dec. 10. One change is meant to “create a more efficient method for approving exclusions where objections have not been received in the past for certain steel or aluminum articles,” it said. Through General Approved Exclusions (GAEs), Commerce will create exclusions “that may be used by any importing entity,” it said. The “change will result in an estimated immediate decrease of 5,000 exclusion requests annually, resulting in a significant improvement in efficiency, with the possibility of more in the future,” it said. “Unlike exclusion requests, GAEs do not include quantity limits.”
The Commerce Department ended a Section 232 investigation launched in May on mobile cranes, it said in a Dec. 4 news release. The Manitowoc Company, which had originally requested the investigation, withdrew its application in September, “citing a changing economic environment due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the news release said. “After consideration of Manitowoc’s request for withdrawal, the Secretary determined that it was appropriate to terminate the investigation,” Commerce said.
United Steelworkers recommended a candidate to the Joe Biden transition team for the next U.S. trade representative, and emphasized how important that USTR pick is to the union, President Tom Conway told a virtual audience for a webinar hosted by the Alliance for American Manufacturing. “We expect to see a bunch of friends we can work with,” Conway said Dec. 3. AAM is partly funded by the Steelworkers, and an AAM employee is volunteering on the USTR transition team.
House Ways and Means Committee member Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., said that although “the politics of trade are fairly tricky,” she feels confident in saying “things can't get any worse” for free trade during the Biden administration. Murphy, one of two members of the House speaking on a Cato Institute webinar about what to expect in trade with a new president, said she's encouraged by President-elect Joe Biden's choices for the secretaries of the treasury and state, and the head of the National Security Council, because all of the individuals recognize that trade is an important tool in foreign policy.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America published advice to the transitioning Joe Biden administration, which includes a call to continue and intensify the kind of tariff and sanctions policies used by the Trump administration, and to go further, such as by raising the bound tariffs at the World Trade Organization. The CPA also asked for countrywide withhold release orders for forced labor, a reduction of the $800 de minimis level and a change in the makeup of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee. “The membership of COAC should equal representation by domestic businesses and labor harmed by unlawful imports, rather than being dominated by multinationals and importer interests,” they said.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 16-22: