U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal did not announce any breakthroughs after their Jan. 11 meeting, but their joint statement pointed to some trade irritants that might be resolved in the future.
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.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., joined by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., has proposed that most countries in Central and South America should be invited to join USMCA, and that before that can be negotiated, the countries should be added to the Caribbean Basin Trade Preference Area.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, at a joint press conference with President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said that the three countries are "creating a joint committee aimed at planning and substituting imports in North America so that we may try to be increasingly self-sufficient in this part of the world and to turn development cooperation into a reality, as well as the well-being of all the countries of our continent. We want that to be a reality."
A panel ruled for Mexico and Canada on how the USMCA auto rules of origin should be interpreted, saying the U.S. is in breach of its agreement by conditioning a longer period to comply for auto exporters, known as an alternative staging regime, on requirements that are not in the USMCA text or the uniform regulations.
Members of the House of Representatives voted 365-65 on the second day of the session to create a Select Committee on China. The committee, which will be led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., will be bipartisan.
Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., was chosen to be the House Ways and Means Committee chairman by the House Steering Committee, edging out Rep. Vern Buchanan, the Florida Republican who was considered the establishment choice.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its analogues in Canada and Mexico asked the three countries' leaders to work on "a quick resolution" of disputes over Mexican energy policies, Canadian dairy tariff-rate quotas and the U.S. position on the auto rules of origin.
Ahead of a meeting of the "Three Amigos" -- the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico and the prime minister of Canada -- Jan. 9-10, business groups that advocate for North American integration said during a Jan. 6 webinar that they're hoping to see more evidence of nearshoring and using North American resources to diversify away from China.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, just before she signed a memorandum of cooperation with Japan on fighting forced labor (see 2301050039), suggested that auto or auto parts imports could be in CBP crosshairs after a British university alleged that many cars could have content touched by Chinese forced labor.
Japan's economy minister, while acknowledging that complete decoupling is possible, said that dependence on China leaves countries open to economic coercion, broken supply chains and economic insecurity.