The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is extending 77 COVID-19-related tariff exclusions as well as the 352 Section 301 exclusions that were restored in March 2022. Both sets of exclusions, which were to expire at the end of September, will last through Dec. 31.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is extending by three months 77 COVID-19 related tariff exclusions as well as the 352 Section 301 exclusions that were restored in March 2022. Both sets of exclusions, which were to expire at the end of September, will last through Dec. 31.
Bryant Trick, a career staffer at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, was named acting assistant USTR for Europe and the Middle East. Before this appointment, announced Sept. 5, Trick served as deputy assistant USTR for Korea. The new role covers the EU, the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Canada is choosing to call for a binational panel to determine whether the countervailing duty order on its softwood lumber exports is fair, but is challenging the antidumping order at the Court of International Trade.
Although the office of the U.S. Representative has already received nearly 1,500 comments on "worker-centered trade," the office has re-opened comments that closed Aug. 11. It is now accepting ideas on trade policies and actions to advance racial and gender equity, advance equity for rural communities or other underserved categories, as well as ideas on how to advance these values through stakeholder engagement.
The U.S. government alleges that management at Mas Air, a cargo airline in Mexico City, coerced pilots to retain the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria Aeronautica, and asked pilots who had joined the Asociacion Sindical de Pilotos Aviadores de Mexico, or ASPA, to resign.
India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that he will "find a solution that addresses both countries' concerns" when it comes to India's new import licensing regime for technology imports. The new system is supposed to go into effect Nov. 1; U.S. technology companies have said it will hurt their exports to India (see 2308170028).
Agriculture Thomas Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Aug. 24 announced 130 new industry officials to sit on seven agricultural trade advisory committees, including bodies that advise the government on trade policies for animal products, fruits and vegetables, grains, cotton, nuts and more. The new members, who join 70 committee members whose terms haven’t yet expired, will serve until August 2027. The new members represent a range of trade groups and companies.
The Timber Working Group, a structure established in 2021 instead of tariffs after a Section 301 investigation on Vietnamese trading practices, discussed how Vietnam is keeping confiscated timber out of the commercial supply chain, how Vietnam verifies the legality of domestically harvested timber, and how Vietnam is "working with high-risk source countries to improve customs enforcement at the border and law enforcement collaboration."
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, speaking Aug. 24 to other G-20 trade ministers, said the U.S. wants to reform the World Trade Organization by improving compliance with -- and enforcement of -- WTO members' commitments, "restoring efficacy to the negotiating arm; ... equipping the Membership to address unfair practices and global market distortions, and putting the organization on the footing to promote trade policies that build resilience and address current global challenges."