Japan’s Diet gave its final approval for a new beef safeguard trigger under the U.S-Japan Trade Agreement (see 2206030006), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said last week. Both the U.S. and Japan are now working to complete all remaining “domestic procedures” to officially implement the new trigger, which could reduce the possibility that U.S. beef exporters face higher tariffs when shipping to Japan (see 2203240020). “The Protocol will ensure our farmers and ranchers continue to have access to one of the world’s most dynamic markets,” USTR Katherine Tai said.
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
The U.S. cabinet level position that oversees trade negotiations with other countries. USTR is part of the Executive Office of the President. It also administers Section 301 tariffs.
There's a consensus on the need for reform at the World Trade Organization, according to Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for WTO and Multilateral Affairs Andrea Durkin, but since member countries have different ideas about what reform is, and different ideas about how to achieve it, it will be a "significant challenge" to make changes in Geneva.
The top trade official from the EU, European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, said the incentives for the green transition in the Inflation Reduction Act appear to discriminate against automotive, battery, renewables and energy-intensive businesses operating in the EU. "It will not be easy to fix it -- but fix it we must," he said during an Oct. 31 speech at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Prague. He also said, "This is an issue of concern for many countries and businesses, which I have raised with our US partners over these past weeks, and it featured prominently in today's discussions."
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who is retiring from Congress at year's end, told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that he was disappointed there were no trade items in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science (CHIPS) Act. "But I’m ready to negotiate a grand bargain on trade in this lame-duck session," he said in a video address Oct. 17. Portman was scheduled to participate in a roundtable of former U.S. trade representatives but was traveling overseas on an official congressional trip.
The U.S. and Taiwan this week agreed to soon begin trade talks under a new initiative aimed at increasing trade in goods and removing “discriminatory barriers,” the Office of U.S. Trade Representative said. The negotiations, which USTR said are set to begin “early this fall,” also will include discussions on trade facilitation measures, anti-corruption, agriculture, technology standards, digital trade, labor and non-market policies. The U.S. and Taiwan plan to “pursue an ambitious schedule” for the talks, Deputy USTR Sarah Bianchi said, adding the discussions will result in a “fairer, more prosperous and resilient 21st century economy.”
The State Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative soon will hold the 15th meeting of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Environmental Affairs Council, the agencies said in a notice this week. State and USTR are accepting written comments ahead of the public portion of the meeting, which will be held Oct. 7, 9 a.m. to noon. Confirmations of attendance and comments are due by Oct. 2.
In filings at the USMCA Secretariat, Mexico and Canada say the Uniform Regulations for USMCA are clear, and say that " roll-up applies to the calculation of [regional value content] RVC for a vehicle. It obliges Parties to take 'no account' of the non-originating materials contained in an originating good when that good is used in the subsequent production of another good."
Senate Finance Committee members praised the experience of Doug McKalip, the administration's nominee to be chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. McKalip, a senior adviser on international trade policy and other matters to the agriculture secretary, is a career staffer at USDA.
Trade ministers meeting at the World Trade Organization in Geneva agreed to a partial solution to harmful subsidies for fishing fleets, an intellectual property waiver for Covid vaccines, and to allow sale of commodities to the World Food Program even if the product is otherwise subject to export restrictions. The countries that attended the ministerial conference also agreed to extend the moratorium on tariffs on electronic transmissions.
A top official in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that opposition to extending a moratorium on tariffs on sales of intangible goods has surfaced before, but that the e-commerce moratorium has been renewed at every World Trade Organization ministerial conference since 1998. "There are a few countries, despite benefiting from e-commerce and digital trade, who continue to resist an extension of the moratorium," she said, but most countries, including in the developing world, see the tariff-free status as important.