Changes to the de minimis statute, whether excluding China or changing the threshold, have gotten the most attention in Congress of any possible customs legislative change, but CBP says its 21st Century Customs Framework will not touch the issue.
At a House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee hearing, Democrats talked up their legislative proposals -- two bipartisan, two not -- as answers to confronting China's trade agenda, and expressed skepticism of witnesses' advocacy for ending permanent normal trade relations with China, while some Republicans expressed interest in that approach, and one seemed cautious.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that NAFTA had to be renegotiated because it wasn't good for American, Canadian or Mexican workers. The traditional labor complaint about NAFTA is that Mexico gained jobs at America's expense, but Tai, in a talk at the World Economy Summit hosted by Semafor on April 12, said it wasn't good for Mexican workers "because workers in Mexico did not have the opportunity really to advocate for themselves and better their conditions."
The government subsidies to industry in China only end up supporting jobs, not cornering the market to jack up prices, nor advancing technology, a Carnegie Mellon economy professor argued at an event at George Washington University on China's economy and U.S.-China relations.
Electronic goods with Chinese components such as notebooks, laptops and modems reimported to the U.S after undergoing repairs in Mexico are still subject to Section 301 tariffs on the repairs, even though the repairs are duty free under USMCA, CBP said in a February ruling.
In more than four hours of questioning during a hearing March 24 before the House Ways and Means Committee, no member of Congress advocated for lessening tariffs on Chinese goods under Section 301, or for reopening exclusions applications.
Almost five years after the first round of 25% tariffs were put on Chinese imports, it was trade irritants with Mexico and India, as well as concerns about tariff preference programs and the lack of a market-opening strategy, that senators dwelled on during the U.S. Trade Representative's appearance in front of the Finance Committee.
The Independent Mexico Labor Expert Board said it is not prepared to say that Mexico is not in compliance with the labor obligations under USMCA, given the steps the government is taking to reform the labor laws. But, with barely more than a year before the deadline to give all workers the chance to vote for independent unions, "we are increasingly concerned that the transition period for full implementation of Mexico’s labor reform will end next May with large segments of the old protection contract system still intact, including in critical manufacturing sectors and their suppliers."
CBP posted the following documents ahead of the March 29 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
Although former Mexican officials are pleased with the conciseness and clarity of the USMCA panel ruling against the U.S. interpretation of the auto rules of origin, they have no confidence it will be followed this year.