The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is reallocating 3,217 metric tons raw value of sugar to Fiji, according to a Federal Register notice scheduled to be published Dec. 26. USTR reallocated 223,740 metric tons raw value of sugar Nov. 30 for the FY2024 tariff rate quota, but inadvertently omitted Fiji (see 2311290014).
Apparel, which accounts for about 37% of imports covered by Caribbean Basin Initiative and Haiti-specific programs, may no longer support jobs in Haiti if a renewal of at least 10 years isn't passed well ahead of Haiti's HOPE and HELP programs' expiration in October 2025, industry is arguing.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced eligibility for “trade surplus” tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for sugar originating in certain free trade agreement countries for calendar year 2024. USTR found Colombia and five members of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement -- Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua -- eligible for the TRQ. The agency found that Chile, the Dominican Republic, Morocco, Panama and Peru don't qualify.
In a report on how Russia is living up to its World Trade Organization commitments -- a report produced every other year for Congress -- the U.S. trade representative wrote that Russia has expanded import substitution to state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, including a ban on imported equipment.
After the EU decided to extend its suspension of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. whiskey, motorcycles and other products, several senators took credit for pushing the U.S. trade representative to achieve that result.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a longtime advocate for sugar policy revisions and increased sugar imports, asked the Agriculture Department and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative "to swiftly implement recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its recent report, 'Sugar Program: Alternative Methods for Implementing Import Restrictions Could Increase Effectiveness'" (see 2310310063). The report, which noted that raw sugar imports haven't filled the tariff rate quotas in any of the past 27 years, recommended USDA evaluate alternative methods of allocating raw sugar TRQs, and that USTR consider other allocation methods that would meet World Trade Organization obligations.
A senator who is pushing against reductions in the scope of the Section 301 tariff action against China (see 2311210048) said that while he "had some good conversations with the administration about it," he doesn't know when the administration will announce the results of its review.
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The U.S. will grant new Section 232 exclusions for steel and aluminum imports from the EU as part of a deal that will also extend the tariff rate quotas on EU steel and aluminum and avoid EU retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports.
Former trade negotiators, think tank trade advocates, and a current political appointee at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative grappled with whether turning away from tariff-lowering free trade agreements is wise or misguided, whether years of globalization from 1995-2015 led to prosperity or economic carnage, and what type of issues should be tackled in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework or other trade deals.