Mara Lee

The changes to the Section 232 aluminum exclusion process described in an interim final rule from the Commerce Department have not yet improved the process, The Aluminum Association said in its comments submitted Nov. 13 on that interim final rule. Decisions have only been made on about 20 percent of the published exclusion requests, and there are still requests published six months ago that haven't gotten an answer. "While the number of requests, objections, rebuttals and sur-rebuttals in the aluminum docket are far lower than the steel docket, the requests -- as well as objections and rebuttals -- are still difficult to monitor" because there's no adequate tracking system. Users can't search on HTS code, country of origin or the type of alloys -- they have to open every single file, the trade group noted.

Investors were worried about the fate of NAFTA and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement when they were "works in progress," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Nov. 13. "And I think people in general think they turned out very, very well." So, Ross told an interviewer at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit, investors shouldn't lose confidence in the president's trade policy with China "because they're afraid of the unknown." He noted that Chinese negotiators are probably visiting Washington ahead of the G-20 summit, when the U.S. and Chinese presidents will talk about trade. But he cautioned that the problems with China are structural, and so won't easily be solved.

Chern-Chyi Chen, deputy representative for trade and economic affairs for Taiwan in Washington, said "witnessing a trade paradigm shift" has been very interesting. Taiwan, the 11th-largest trading partner with the U.S., is accelerating its investment outside of China as the U.S.-China trade conflict builds, according to Rupert Hammond-Chambers, the president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council. The two were guests at a Heritage Foundation event on U.S. trade with Taiwan on Nov. 13. The event was timed to a new report on Taiwan from Heritage researcher Riley Walters.

The U.S. Trade Representative's delegation in Geneva has challenged how India reports its agriculture subsidies on cotton, the agency announced Nov. 13. This followed similar action the U.S. took at the World Trade Organization in May on Indian subsidies for wheat and rice. At issue is what quantity of production is used by India to calculate market price supports, as well as a lack of information on the total value of production. "Based on U.S. calculations, it appears that India has substantially underreported its market price support for cotton. When calculated according to WTO Agreement on Agriculture methodology, India’s market price support for cotton far exceeded its allowable levels of trade distorting domestic support," the announcement said. The WTO Committee on Agriculture will discuss this claim at its next meeting Nov. 26-27.

The United Kingdom has reached a draft agreement on how it can leave the European Union, according to a statement from Prime Minister Theresa May's office, reports said, and the British Cabinet will evaluate it on Nov. 14. May, who spoke Nov. 12 on "the new relationship we will forge with our European allies as we leave the European Union," said she was not compromising on what the Brexit voters asked. "Any deal must ensure we take back control of our laws, borders and money. It must secure the ability to strike new trade deals around the world," she said, according to a transcript of the speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet in London.

Steve Bannon, a populist strategist ousted from the White House last year, said there's no easy solution to the China-U.S. trade war, which he called "an economic war" during an interview at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit. Bannon, speaking Nov. 13, said working people's view that America is in decline -- and that elites are comfortable with that -- is one of the reasons Donald Trump was elected president. "There's a direct link between factories that went to China and the jobs that went with them, directly linked to opioid addiction" levels, Bannon said, citing the memoir Hillbilly Elegy. "This is about dignity and self-worth of our working class base."

The U.S., China, Brazil, Australia, Canada and others complained that the European Union's proposal to adjust its tariff rate quotas on agricultural and industrial goods after Brexit will reduce market access for their exporters. They talked about the problem at a World Trade Organization Council for Trade in Goods meeting Nov. 12, according to a Geneva trade official. The EU proposal affects 196 individual concessions covering more than 365 tariff lines, members asserted in a joint communication, which is not public.

Peter Navarro, the biggest China hawk in the administration, said it will be tough for the U.S. to find the "Art of the Deal" with China, speaking at a Nov. 9 event in Washington. "How do you deal with somebody if they won't even acknowledge your concern? I mean, it's Alice in Wonderland," he said, recalling how, at a meeting in Beijing in May, Chinese officials denied they engage in cybertheft or require technology transfers. "Even if you take 25 of those off," he said, referring to a lengthy list he's compiled of ways that China puts the thumb on the scale for its firms, "you still have 35 left, and that would probably be enough to hurt us. This is not about buying more U.S. soybeans or more coal. This is structural."

While the next chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is clear -- Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass. -- the leadership of the Senate Finance Committee and the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee is up in the air. Neal, who represents a slice of Western Massachusetts that has suffered from deindustrialization, voted against NAFTA, but for giving China permanent most favored nation status. He also voted no on the most recent fast-track renewal in 2015.

NEW YORK -- Clients are asking "how can I make a bad situation better," said Mary Jo Muoio, senior vice president for trade services for Geodis, a customs broker firm. Muoio, who was speaking on a panel on "Tackling the Trade War: Solutions for Companies Across the Supply Chain" at the Apparel Importers Trade and Transportation Conference, said some of those client questions and plans are not sophisticated. She quoted one client who asked: "If I send it to Taiwan and label it Taiwan, does it get me out of the 301?" She quipped, "Well, it gets you in jail."