Although experts gathered to talk about what legislative initiatives a House select committee on China might recommend, and they did that, they couldn't resist speculating about what the Biden administration will do to confront China's broken promises to liberalize and open up. The program, organized by the Washington International Trade Association, was held May 19.
Former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, who got the most attention from members of a House select committee at a lengthy hearing on Chinese economic aggression, argued that the actions President Donald Trump took to discourage imports from China were not nearly enough, and that even removing China from most favored nation status would not be enough to protect American manufacturers from China's predation, because some of the Column 2 tariffs, such as those on cars, are not high enough. Ending China's MFN status "would be one of the greatest things you could possibly do for American manufacturing," he declared.
The negotiations between Europe and the U.S. to create an arrangement that would discourage imports of dirty steel, or steel made from uneconomic excess capacity, "have a long way to go," American Iron and Steel Institute CEO Kevin Dempsey said, speaking to reporters May 16 at AISI's general meeting.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seeks comments in connection with its annual review of the eligibility of countries for benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, USTR said. The agency will consider, among other things, whether to restore or revoke eligibility for sub-Saharan African countries covered by AGOA. Countries found ineligible for AGOA in 2023 include Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Equatorial Guinea (graduated from GSP; ineligible for consideration for AGOA benefits); Eritrea; Ethiopia; Guinea; Mali; Mauritania; Seychelles (graduated from GSP; ineligible for consideration for AGOA benefits); Somalia (requested consideration for AGOA benefits for the first time this year); South Sudan; Sudan (did not request designation as an AGOA beneficiary country); and Zimbabwe. USTR will hold a virtual public hearing on July 24. The deadline for requests to appear and for written comments is July 7.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that 77 of 81 items previously granted Section 301 exclusions due to the COVID-19 pandemic will continue through Sept. 30. The rest will expire at the end of May. All the exclusions had been scheduled to end May 15.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced it is extending through Sept. 30 exclusions for 77 of 81 COVID-19-related products previously granted Section 301 exclusions. The other four will expire at the end of May. All the exclusions had been scheduled to end May 15.
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said that he and Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have not delved into details about what they might keep and what they might drop from the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act trade title as the Senate tries for a second China competition bill. But, Crapo said, with regard to the Section 301 exclusion process directive that was part of the June 2021 package, it may not be on the agenda.
Former chief agricultural negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Gregg Doud called for the use of the new enforcement mechanism in the USMCA during a House Agriculture Committee hearing May 11.
The inability of CBP to stop all goods made with Uyghur forced labor was one of the focuses of a trade hearing hosted on Staten Island by the House Ways and Means Committee, and when committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., asked a witness what more could be done to crack down, Uyghur activist Nury Turkel said the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act should be expanded to cover all of China.
While the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), an alternative to the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body, may work for the nations that want an appellate level of review of WTO panel decisions, it doesn't necessarily make sense for U.S. purposes, said Jamieson Greer, former chief of staff for the U.S. trade representative and partner at King & Spalding. Speaking at a May 8 Federalist Society event, Greer said that if the U.S. wanted another level of review at the WTO, the government would simply just start staffing up the AB again rather than pursue a solution under the MPIA.