At a joint press conference in Ottawa, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Canadian trade minister Mary Ng did not reveal any agreements on trade irritants, but emphasized that they can work out their differences with the trust they share and the strong relationship between the neighboring countries. It was Tai's first trip to Canada since becoming USTR, and she had a full schedule planned, meeting with small businesses, labor groups, and touring a General Motors facility in Markham, Ontario.
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.
Among the 28 motions to instruct for negotiations that will be considered next Tuesday and Wednesday in the Senate, five would affect trade, including one that supports the establishment of an inspector general for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
A Mexican union and a U.S. nonprofit have jointly filed a rapid response complaint against Panasonic Automotive's plant in Reynosa, Mexico. The Sindicato Nacional Independiente de Trabajadores de Industrias y de Servicios "Movimiento 20/32" (SNITIS) says more than 600 workers at the plant asked for SNITIS to be their new union, but the company is collaborating with a Confederación de Trabajadores de México (CTM) union. According to the complaint, there are about 2,000 workers at the plant, who make audio systems and screens for automobiles that are exported to the U.S. and to other markets.
Direct negotiations with China are, “at this point, unlikely to yield meaningful results” in curbing Beijing’s unfair trade practices, Emily Kilcrease, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in written testimony at a hearing April 14. “China has little incentive to commit to binding rules that will require structural changes to a system they believe works for their economic and political objectives,” she said.
After the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative agreed to reinstate 64% of expired Section 301 tariff exclusions (see 2203230070), business interests said it should go further, while the Coalition for a Prosperous America said the decision was wrongheaded.
The top trade official in the British government and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said they want to do even more trade and investment between the two countries, even as a free-trade agreement is not the end goal. Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan had hoped that the Biden administration would continue the free trade negotiations started during the Trump administration, but that has not happened. Marjorie Chorlins, who leads the U.S.-U.K. Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also spoke at the March 21 plenary in Baltimore, saying the business community strongly supports more U.S.-U.K. economic cooperation.
Importers and exporters will again be able to ship bivalve molluscan shellfish to and from the EU beginning in late February, following the conclusion of negotiations Feb. 4 to allow for resumption of bilateral trade, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a press release late that day. “For the first time since 2011, U.S. producers, beginning in the states of Massachusetts and Washington, are eligible to export live, raw and processed bivalve molluscan shellfish to the EU, including oysters, clams, mussels, and whole or roe-on scallops,” USTR said. “EU producers in Spain and the Netherlands are also now to export live and raw bivalve molluscan shellfish to the United States.”
Imports from Haiti and the 16 Caribbean countries and U.S. territories covered by the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act declined 8.9% in 2020 from 2019, after a 8.2% decline from 2018 to 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative reported. In 2020, the countries collectively exported $5.1 billion in goods to the U.S. -- behind faraway Slovakia. These imports represent only .2% of imports in 2020. The USTR attributed the decline to COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions.
Agricultural and energy market access in Mexico are of concern to Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, as he talks about the need to enforce USMCA's provisions, but he dismissed Mexico's concern that the U.S. is not following the treaty's text as it lays out rules for imported automobiles and light trucks to enter the U.S. tariff-free.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that she expressed strong support for Lithuania "in the face of economic coercion" during a call with European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis Jan. 7, and that the European Union and U.S. should work together to address coercive economic tactics "through various avenues, including the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council" (see 2201060034). The readout of the call also said they discussed steel and aluminum excess capacity. The U.S. replaced its tariffs on EU exporters in those sectors with tariff rate quotas that will last five years; it is Europe's goal to return to trade as it was before the Section 232 action.