The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seeks comments on eligibility criteria in the definition of “specialty sugar” for the agency’s sugar tariff-rate quota regulations, it said in a notice released May 5. The agency said that while the definition of specialty sugar in a 1990 interim final rule said specialty sugar must “require no further refining, processing, or other preparation prior to consumption, other than incorporation as an ingredient in human food,” a subsequent final rule in 1996 changed the overall definition but did not specify whether that criterion was still included. It is not reflected in the Code of Federal Regulations. USTR now seeks comments on whether it should amend the definition of specialty sugar to reflect the criterion. Comments are due July 7.
The U.S. readout of the meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Canada's trade minister, Mary Ng, mentioned Canada's proposed digital services tax. "Ambassador Tai expressed her hope that the United States and Canada could work together on this issue that could unfairly impact U.S. businesses," it said.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that after her first visit to Brazil, she was struck by "a lot of synergies between the United States and Brazil." She said it also got her "thinking about ourselves as the product of an earlier version of globalization -- the colonial/imperial project."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he'll use the 2021 trade title from the Senate China package as his committee works on its contribution to a second China package envisioned by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to address economic competition with China and to deter Chinese aggression toward Taiwan.
Almost five months have passed since the U.S. learned it lost its case under USMCA, and that, in order to be faithful to what it negotiated, it must allow automotive producers to use roll-up methodologies to meet regional content thresholds for core parts. The U.S. was supposed to resolve the dispute within 45 days, but has not done so.
University of Delaware Professor Sheng Lu, who specializes in Fashion and Apparel Studies, told an audience from the U.S. Fashion Industry Association that although there are good reasons to want to source more apparel from Central America and the Dominican Republic -- to avoid forced labor from Xinjiang or generally reduce China exposure -- growth is unlikely unless Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement countries are able to access more nylon, viscose, wool or linen fabrics.
Some U.S. states were willing to pay Volkswagen more than Canada was for a new Volkswagen electric vehicle factory, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. But, Trudeau said, when Canada matched the national incentives offered by the Inflation Reduction Act, Ontario's other advantages were enough to land the major economic development win.
The Inflation Reduction Act will encourage the building of "a clean energy manufacturing ecosystem, rooted in supply chains here in North America and extending to Europe, Japan and elsewhere," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a speech April 27 in Washington. "This is how we will turn the IRA from a source of friction to a source of strength and reliability."
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, speaking from Asia, where she had just finished a round of meetings with Philippine and Japanese officials, said the U.S.-China trade war did not come up in her meetings, as these visits focused much more on the bilateral trade and economic relationship.
The National Taxpayers Union, a group that advocates for lower taxes, is urging members of the House of Representatives to vote against a resolution that would overturn the administration's decision to delay antidumping and countervailing duties on solar panels from Southeast Asia that the Commerce Department says circumvent an earlier order against Chinese panels.