The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has added $4 billion in European imports to its list of possible retaliatory tariffs for Airbus subsidies, and is inviting interested parties to comment at a hearing or in writing on the 89 tariff subheadings. The U.S. has now identified $25 billion in potential retaliatory tariffs. The newly proposed products include yogurt, butter, cheese, meat, whiskey, olives, fertilizers and metals, and the USTR said the new list was shaped by requests by American producers at the first public hearing (see 1905150038).
The trade group that represents companies that invest in China said it is glad China and the U.S. will "postpone further escalation of their tariff battles." The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also welcomed the news, and added, "We hope each side is now prepared to go the last mile to achieve a high-standard, comprehensive, enforceable agreement. China must commit to addressing longstanding unfair trade practices and industrial policies that prevent a level-playing field for U.S. companies. Opening markets, increasing IPR protection, and promoting fair and reciprocal opportunities in trade are in China’s own interest as it works to build a stronger and more innovative economy."
Powerful House Democrats -- including the Trade Subcommittee chairman, the majority leader and working group member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. -- are explicitly linking failures to enforce labor provisions in the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement and weak enforcement tools in the new NAFTA. In a letter sent to the U.S. trade representative and the labor secretary on June 27, the Colombia Monitoring Group wrote, "The situation in Colombia highlights the systemic problems we face in enforcing our trade agreements across the board. In the face of long-standing and known problems, this Administration has demonstrated no urgency in resolving them...."
While the reasons that Section 301 tariff exclusions were granted are murky to trade lawyers, in general, more information is better when submitting requests, trade lawyers said during a panel at the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference June 28. Pictures of your product, emails from domestic companies saying they can't provide the quantity you're looking for, and the number of U.S. jobs that are imperiled if you have to pay 25 percent more for this product are all good pieces of information to provide, they said.
Trade lawyers talking about changes to NAFTA's rule of origin said they're fairly optimistic the trade deal rewrite will be ratified in Congress in 2019. But aside from the auto sector, which has a multiyear transition period, they're concerned that by the time ratification comes, there won't be time for importers and exporters to adjust by Jan. 1, 2020, when the replacement agreement is supposed to be in force.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer said he thinks the House could be able to have a vote in the fall on the new NAFTA. Blumenauer, from Oregon and one of nine House Democrats who are tasked with negotiating changes to the deal with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, said he expects the group will meet with USTR "at least once a week." Speaking at a Washington International Trade Association event June 26, he joked that Lighthizer spends so much time meeting with House members and caucuses, "I think he travels the world just to get away from us." Lighthizer is on his way to Osaka, Japan, for the G-20 meeting. He met with the working group the afternoon before he left.
Democrats on the working group asking for changes to the new NAFTA say the first meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, on June 26, went well, and other Democrats on the left and center also expressed hope that Democrats are on the right path to get to ratification. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., who's specializing in environmental issues on the working group, said it was a "great meeting." Larson, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, added, "We're not there yet, I think Lighthizer has the right attitude, and his sleeves rolled up, and we're laying out our concerns, and hopefully we're going to get to yes."
During U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer's June 19 appearance before the crucial House Ways and Means Committee, there were a number of hints that a ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is on the right track.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who's been working for months on a compromise bill to address national security tariffs, said that an introduction won't happen until after the August recess. "We're trying to get a consensus on [Section] 232s, that isn't the easiest thing," he said. "But we're making some progress." He said, speaking to reporters on June 19, that he'd had meetings on the bill that day.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will not automatically renew Section 301 product exclusions, USTR Robert Lighthizer told Rep. Jackie Walorksi during the June 19 House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the administration's trade policy. But Lighthizer told a California Democrat that his office is hiring employers and contractors and borrowing "a bunch of people" from other agencies to work on the flood of product exclusion requests that's expected.