A U.S. delegation met with Mauritanian civil society leaders, international organizations and Mauritanian government officials to talk about the challenges to ending hereditary slavery and other forced labor issues in the country, but also heard about "notable progress" in addressing the problem. The Labor Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the State and Justice departments met with Mauritanian officials last week, a readout said. Mauritania was removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act in 2019 over the issue.
The U.S. government, dissatisfied with the narrowing of a Mexican ban on genetically modified corn (see 2302150026), has asked for technical consultations under the USMCA's sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) chapter. A formal dispute can't be initiated without first taking this step.
Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass will step down in June, and a former U.S. trade representative, Michael Froman, will become the new president of the think tank.
Senior U.S. officials and country representatives from the Pacific Islands Forum recently discussed the possibility of allowing eligible members of the PIF to be designated for a regional association for the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, an Office of the U.S. Trade Representative readout of the meeting said. The regional designation “has the potential to further integrate regional supply chains and promote enhanced access to the U.S. market for the developing Pacific Islands states,” the readout said. The U.S. and the Pacific Islands agreed to “a number of follow-up items, which will shape further trade and investment discussions in preparation for the United States-Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Dialogue later this year,” it said.
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity needs strong commitments on labor rights, the environment and on digital trade, among other items, a coalition of organizations and unions told the Biden administration.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the future economic relationship with China has to be navigated in the context of the U.S. needing "a thriving economy that is based on market competition principles. How do we accomplish this, given that the second-largest economy in the world operates on a very, very different system ... and makes its own decisions?"
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jayme White, speaking during a panel discussion with representatives from USMCA partners, said the NAFTA rewrite's credibility is on the line if enforcement is weak. White, who discussed USMCA implementation on a Brookings Institution panel along with a Canadian minister and a Mexican senator who leads that body's Special Committee for USMCA Implementation, said if promises on environmental rules, labor standards and energy aren't fulfilled, workers will say: "Well, you don't enforce it."
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A trade group for the Mexican steel industry, CANACERO, warned that Mexico likely will retaliate against U.S. steel exports if the U.S. reimposes 25% tariffs on Mexican steel -- and the U.S. exports much more steel to Mexico than vice versa.
On the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the White House said that, beginning March 10, there will be a 200% tariff on Russian aluminum exports, including derivative products, and, beginning on April 10, aluminum articles from other countries that used any aluminum from Russia also will be tariffed at 200%, unless those third countries also impose 200% tariffs on imported Russian aluminum.