A Senate effort to constrain the president's power on Section 232 tariffs was not weakened by the White House announcement last week that any tariffs on autos or auto parts would not go into effect against Europe (see 1807250031), Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said in a brief hallway interview July 31. Corker said senators were continuing to talk about his bill this week. He said when the announcement first came out, he was concerned that it could take the wind out of the sails of his bill. But, he said, as people have realized that nothing substantive was achieved in that meeting between President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (see 1807260026), interest in taking action remains.
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
The Commerce Department will reduce the number of military and high-tech items that will require licenses for export to India, Secretary Wilbur Ross announced July 30. India will be moved into Tier 1 of the Strategic Trade Authorization license exception program. "STA Tier 1 treatment, comparable to NATO allies, will expand the scope of exports subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) that can be made to India without individual licenses," Commerce said. It estimated that there was $9.7 billion worth of exports to India over the last seven years that required licenses and would no longer require licenses under the new classification.
The U.S. could be on a "pretty rapid track with the Mexican talks" to close NAFTA, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said, speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Indo-Pacific Business Forum July 30. He said that Mexico's role in NAFTA is "intellectually more complicated" than Canada's, and "there are fewer issues with Canada." So, Ross said, if the Mexico side can be solved "we should be able to fill in with Canada." Ross's comments contrast with what U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Senators last week (see 1807260029), when he said that "I don't believe [Canadians] have compromised in the same way the United States has and Mexico has," and he suggested closing the deal with Mexico would force Canada to bend.
President Donald Trump both praised Italian products -- saying he owns some of them -- and complained about the more than $30 billion trade in goods deficit with Italy during a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the White House July 30. Trump said he announced a breakthrough with the president of the European Commission last week, and he said he looks forward to opening new commercial opportunities with Italy "that will reduce our trade deficit substantially and increase our mutual prosperity."
The agriculture ministers from the largest economies around the world said they "are concerned about the increasing use of protectionist non-tariff measures, inconsistently with WTO rules." The ministers met in Buenos Aires July 27-28, and issued a statement at the end of the meeting about numerous issues, including trade. They said they are committed to setting sanitary and phytosanitary regulations on international standards and assessment of risk appropriate to the circumstances, and intend to "refrain from adopting unnecessary obstacles to international trade." The statement says they also "welcome and support the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) decision on developing a globally harmonized Electronic Phytosanitary Certification Basis (ePhyto) as a concrete and efficient way of facilitating international trade."
The bilateral meeting between Mexico and the U.S. on July 26 was very productive, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said, saying it was evident that the chief NAFTA negotiator for the next administration and U.S. Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer have a rapport, as they have known each other for years. Jesus Seade, who represents Mexico's president-elect, was the ambassador for Mexico's delegation to the World Trade Organization at the same time Lighthizer worked in Geneva.
A slightly changed Miscellaneous Tariff Bill passed the Senate unanimously July 26, but it likely will not take effect until the fall, because the House of Representatives has left for a five-week August recess. Once the revised version passes the House and is signed by the president, it will take effect in 30 days. The House passed its version of the bill Jan. 16, by a 402-0 vote (see 1801170012).
Twenty Republicans on the committee that handles trade in the House of Representatives wrote to President Donald Trump July 25, asking him to start negotiating directly with Chinese President Xi Jingping. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, asked Trump to meet with Xi weeks ago (see 1807110024), and the letter uses the same kind of flattery for Trump's deal-making prowess that Brady has often repeated (see 1807170004). "We are confident that if you personally engage with President Xi, you would reinvigorate the negotiations and develop meaningful solutions that will establish free, fair, and lasting trade between the United States and China and improve the competitiveness of U.S. companies," the letter says. "To your credit, you have developed a strong personal relationship with President Xi."
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross pointed to the European Union's interest in working on a trade deal (see 1807250031) that addresses non-tariff barriers and some industrial tariffs as "a real vindication that the president’s trade policy is starting to work." Ross, who was speaking to reporters traveling with the president to Iowa July 26, said Donald Trump's approach is to make it painful for other countries to continue their trade stances.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the effort to get China to change its industrial policy and intellectual property practices will take years, but added that "that's not to say what we're doing now will be in place for years." Lighthizer was testifying July 26 to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the administration's trade policy, and was pressed again and again on how long tariffs will continue to increase costs on American businesses, and how long retaliatory tariffs will damage their ability to export.