The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Nov. 29 released country-by-country reallocations of unused FY 2024 in-quota amounts for the tariff-rate quotas for imported raw cane sugar. "Based on consultation with quota holders, the U.S. Trade Representative has determined to reallocate 223,740 [metric tons raw value (MTRV)] of the original TRQ quantity from those countries that have stated they do not plan to fill their FY 2024 allocated raw cane sugar quantities," it said. Reallocated quantities are as follows: Argentina 15,592; Australia 30,098; Belize 3,989; Bolivia 2,901; Brazil 52,581; Colombia 8,703; Costa Rica 5,439; Ecuador 3,989; El Salvador 9,428; Eswatini (Swaziland) 5,802; Guatemala 17,406; Guyana 4,352; Honduras 3,626; Jamaica 3,989; Malawi 3,626; Mauritius 4,352; Mozambique 4,714; Panama 10,516; Peru 14,868; South Africa 8,340; Thailand 5,077; and Zimbabwe 4,352.
toSearch Primer
Multi-word term: Place inside quotes to ensure an exact match together (e.g. "China import").
Term list: Separate terms with spaces, not commas or semicolons to find either word (e.g. AD/CVD antidumping).
Acronyms: Use all capital letters (e.g., ACE).
Required term: If a term must be included in any resulting articles, prefix it with a plus sign (e.g., CBP +releases).
Excluded term: If a term should be excluded from any articles being found, prefix it with a minus sign (e.g., -ruling).
Singular form: Use the singular form when doing multi-word terms (e.g. "russian export control" instead of "russian export controls").
Shortest word form: When you have different word forms in a quoted term, include the shortest version if it is the last part of the expression (e.g., "entity list" instead of "entity listing" or "entity listed").
The top trade negotiator for the EU, Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, said the EU's political leadership sees "no prospect to agree on a concept" for a global arrangement on steel, to box out unfairly traded steel and privilege steel made with less carbon intensity.
A USMCA dispute settlement panel ruled in Canada’s favor in a much-awaited second decision on Canada’s dairy tariff rate quotas, according to a report released by the panel on Nov. 24.
Dispute settlement understanding talks among World Trade Organization members has been very "intense," though the large issues remain unresolved, Maria Pagan, deputy U.S. trade representative and chief of mission in the Geneva office, said Nov. 20. Speaking at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference, Pagan said discussions started by acknowledging the different parties' interests as opposed to putting text on the table and hashing out the deal.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments on a World Trade Organization complaint filed by Argentina in May. Argentina is challenging the U.S. antidumping duties on oil country tubular goods from the country, and in particular the final determination of dumping from the Commerce Department and the final injury determination by the International Trade Commission. Comments are due Dec. 22.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is inviting comments on how USMCA is working in the automotive goods arena, "including the implementation and enforcement of the USMCA rules of origin for automotive goods" and whether the accord's automotive provisions "are effective in light of technological and production advances." Comments can be submitted through Jan. 17 in docket number USTR-2023-0013.
The text of a recent letter sent to the White House by Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bob Casey, D-Pa., suggests that they have been told there will be reductions in Section 301 tariffs, and they said in the letter that they have serious concerns that these reductions "will enable China and other global competitors to resume their anti-competitive activities without consequences. While not the subject of interagency review, we share similar concerns about reductions in 232 tariffs, as well as related actions that would undermine American steel and aluminum producers as a result of negotiations with the European Union on the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum."
A joint statement by the leaders of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework countries said the trade pillar has made progress, and the White House said they will continue negotiations "to facilitate trade, advance workers’ rights through strong and enforceable labor standards, strengthen environmental protections, align our regulatory procedures, promote a fair and inclusive digital economy, deepen our technical assistance and economic cooperation, and advance inclusivity in our trade policy."
Three-quarters of the Republican majority on the House Ways and Means Committee, along with five committee Democrats, told the U.S. trade representative that they oppose her "decision to abandon important bipartisan digital trade proposals at the World Trade Organization (WTO). This action, which was made without sufficient consultation with Congress, runs counter to the interests of American workers and businesses of all sizes and cedes more leverage to other foreign powers, including the Peoples’ Republic of China, that seek to write the rules of the 21st-century digital economy. We urge the administration to reconsider its approach."
The White House said it will ask the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to "pursue effective and meaningful remediation of labor rights violations or to address gaps in labor rights protections," and asked USTR and the Department of Labor to develop new tools and strategies to address these gaps.