The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is forming a U.S.-Kenya Trade and Investment Working Group, with the aim of deepening the trade relationship between the two countries. Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Industry, Trade and Cooperatives Peter Munya said that although Kenya has increased its exports to the U.S. through the African Growth and Opportunity Act, "its utilization has been suboptimal. Through implementation of the recently launched National AGOA strategy and action plan, Kenya seeks greater US support in order to optimize available opportunities in the remaining seven years of AGOA." According to USTR, there's $1 billion of trade annually between Kenya and the U.S., and more than 70 percent of Kenyan exports to the U.S. are covered by AGOA preferences.
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.
The agreement between the U.S. and Mexico (see 1808270032) contains several changes related to customs processing as part of the market access chapter, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a fact sheet about the deal. Among those are "new provisions for transparency in import licensing and export licensing procedures," the USTR said. The deal would also prohibit requiring "local distributors for importation" and applying import restrictions on used goods for remanufacturing. "Provisions for duty-free temporary admission of goods to cover shipping containers or other substantial holders used in the shipment of goods" would also be updated, the USTR said.
Senators and House members from both parties reacted to the outline of a bilateral deal between Mexico and the U.S. with a variety of views, ranging from celebration to skepticism. The deal aims to steer more auto manufacturing to the U.S. -- and maybe to Canada, if that country comes on board (see 1808270032).
The U.S. and Mexico agreed to a major step forward in talks to renew the trade relationship between the countries in NAFTA, the White House announced on Aug. 27. Canada remains on the outside of the deal but that country will begin similar discussions with the U.S. as soon as Aug. 27, a senior administration official said during a call with reporters. The U.S. and Mexico will use an "alternative" sunset provision to allow for more frequent reviews of the deal, another official on the call said.
National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones President Erik Autor is set to meet with officials at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in the coming weeks to discuss a quirk in foreign-trade zone filing requirements that’s resulting in the unfair application of Section 301 duties, he said in an Aug. 21 interview. Autor seeks to educate USTR on how tariffs apply to FTZ goods, in the hopes that the agency will amend Section 301 implementation language related to zones that CBP says leaves it with no choice but to sometimes collect the tariffs on inputs that sometimes aren’t even Chinese.
The proposed third tranche of 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports targets equipment “critical for the build-out” of 5G mobile phone technology, the Internet of Things and “big data,” according to K.C. Swanson, Telecommunications Industry Association director-global policy, in prehearing testimony posted in docket USTR-2018-0026. Though the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative hasn’t released a schedule of witnesses to testify at four days of public hearings on the tariffs beginning Aug. 20, Swanson is scheduled to testify Aug. 21, she said. Requests to testify were due Aug. 13 under the deadline USTR Robert Lighthizer extended from July 27 when he announced Aug. 1 he will “consider,” under President Donald Trump’s direction, raising the third tranche of proposed duties to 25 percent from 10 percent (see 1808010070).
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, after two days of discussions with Japanese Minister for Economic Revitalization Toshimitsu Motegi, said the two sides "had frank discussions" on their respective views on trade and investment. They will be exploring "ways to fill the gap between their positions and to promote trade between the United States and Japan," USTR said in an emailed statement.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced Aug. 7 that the Morocco would begin allowing commercial imports of American poultry products. "I welcome Morocco’s agreement to allow imports of U.S. poultry meat and products and the economic opportunities that will be afforded to U.S. producers," Lighthizer said. The government estimated that the Moroccan demand will be about $10 million in the first year. USTR said the U.S. had global sales of poultry meat and products of $4.3 billion in 2017. The Food Safety and Inspection Service posted information on export requirements for Morocco on Aug. 7.
The bilateral meeting between Mexico and the U.S. on July 26 was very productive, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said, saying it was evident that the chief NAFTA negotiator for the next administration and U.S. Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer have a rapport, as they have known each other for years. Jesus Seade, who represents Mexico's president-elect, was the ambassador for Mexico's delegation to the World Trade Organization at the same time Lighthizer worked in Geneva.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the effort to get China to change its industrial policy and intellectual property practices will take years, but added that "that's not to say what we're doing now will be in place for years." Lighthizer was testifying July 26 to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the administration's trade policy, and was pressed again and again on how long tariffs will continue to increase costs on American businesses, and how long retaliatory tariffs will damage their ability to export.