On the first day of tariff collection for the third phase of the U.S.-China trade war, another 5,745 products became subject to 10 percent higher levies, with the threat of an additional 15 percent levy on those products following in a little more than three months.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it would like the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity to be able to restore a healthy market for global steel by reducing excess capacity, but after a meeting Sept. 20 in Argentina of officials from countries around the world, it is not confident it's going to work. The forum began nearly two years ago.
Several major issues between the U.S. and Canada remain unresolved as NAFTA negotiations proceed, Canadian and Mexican negotiators said on Sept. 20. Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland didn't dispute a reporter's characterization that the fact that the word "progress" was missing from her description of NAFTA talks was significant. "I chose my words carefully. Today we discussed some tough issues. The conversation was constructive, we all continue to work very hard, and Canada's objective continues to be ... to achieve a deal and to achieve a deal that is good for Canada."
The European Union, emphasizing follow-through from the joint statement in July (see 1807250031) that the EU and U.S. would be working together on trade, announced that imports of U.S. soybeans from July through mid-September more than doubled compared with the same period a year ago. EU Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan said: "I welcome the latest trade figures which show that we are delivering on the commitment made by Presidents [Jean-Claude] Juncker and [Donald] Trump to increase trade, particularly in relation to soya beans. This reflects both our longstanding trade relationship and the potential to achieve so much more by working together to build on that relationship."
The president of Canada’s largest union said that while dairy and dispute settlement have not yet been resolved, the biggest issue preventing an agreement on NAFTA is the specter of Section 232 tariffs on autos. "If anything is to hold this deal up, it’s going to be the fact that Donald Trump has imposed 232 tariffs,” Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, said Sept. 20. “Why would Canada sign a trade agreement with the United States dealing with all the important issues, and then have Donald Trump impose a 25 percent tariff on automobiles? Why would we sign an agreement that leaves us exposed?”
A bill that would require advance data from all international mail by 2020 -- designed to help CBP interdict small-scale fentanyl and carfentanil shipments, particularly from China -- is headed to a conference committee after the Senate gave its approval Sept. 17. The House passed the STOP Act in June, also with strong bipartisan support (see 1806140037).
China will impose new tariffs on oak wood veneer, non-electrical machines, makeup, copper and natural gas, which are all among the top-volume items in 3,571 U.S. imports that will be subject to 10 percent retaliatory tariffs at 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 24. Another 1,636 tariff lines will be subject to an additional 5 percent tariff, with bleached wood pulp, cow hides, optical media and needles and catheters among the highest-volume goods. Together, the two lists accounted for about $60 billion in imports last year. China's tariffs come in response a newly released list of goods from China to face Section 301 tariffs in the U.S. starting Sept. 24 (see 1809170051).
Most of the former U.S. trade representatives on a panel at the Center for Strategic and International Studies agreed that a multilateral approach with China would have been better than tariffs, that the World Trade Organization could have been used to good effect, and that the Trans-Pacific Partnership would have made a difference. But Susan Schwab, who was a USTR during the George W. Bush administration, disagreed with much of that conventional wisdom. "From 2005 onward, we were seeing bad behavior and backtracking on the part of China, and we tried to get China's attention on a whole lot of issues that the current administration is talking about ... and we weren't able to get their attention. And we weren't able to get Europe and Japan to help us even though quietly Europe and Japan were talking about this.
A finalized list of coming Section 301 tariffs on China will be announced after the stock market closes, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Sept. 17. "It will be a lot of money coming into the coffers of the United States of America," Trump said. "A lot of money coming in, but you’ll be seeing what we’re doing right after close of business today.". The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative proposed the third tranche of tariffs on about $200 billion worth of imports from China in July (see 1807100070).
Importers will have to pay an additional 10 percent on about 5,700 8-digit tariff lines starting Sept. 24, President Donald Trump said on Sept. 17. "If China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries, we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports," said Trump in the statement.