Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, complained again April 2 that President Donald Trump doesn't understand that to get the new NAFTA ratified, he has to lift tariffs on Mexican and Canadian aluminum and steel. "The president has to come to the conclusion," he told reporters on a conference call, "and I don’t know why it’s taking him so long, because he wants U.S.-Mexico-Canada [Agreement] to get through. It’s a real victory for him. It’s a real campaign promise kept. So why the slow movement on it? Get rid of them!"
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 suggestion that the U.S. could shut down the ports of entry at the Mexican border "is an applause line, but it's not an idea," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at an event hosted by Politico on April 2. She said she would hope there would be enough maturity at the White House not to make the threat a reality. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House later in the day, both reiterated the threat and softened his tone on the likelihood of it happening. While he said that if Congress doesn't make a deal to stop the practice he called "catch and release," "the border's going to be closed -- 100 percent." But he also said that Mexico has started to prevent more Central Americans from crossing their territory into the United States.
A senior member of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee said he sees a path forward for ratification of the new NAFTA, and thinks some of the concerns of Democrats can be solved without going back to the table. But some freshman Democrats who belong to the pro-growth New Democrat Coalition said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was unbending on a provision critical to their votes.
Momentum is moving China and the U.S. toward a trade deal, Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said while speaking with reporters April 2. "We're getting into the end game phase" with China, he said. Brilliant said the negotiations with the Chinese delegation that will begin April 3 will be critical to reaching a resolution at the end of April, as both sides desire. But Brilliant emphasized that the business community is more interested in a comprehensive, durable deal that resolves long-standing complaints on discrimination against foreign companies operating in China and subsidies for Chinese firms than in reaching a quick deal.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said April 1 that closing the U.S.-Mexico border "would inflict severe economic harm" on the country, and that even threatening closure is damaging. March 29 marked the third time President Donald Trump has threatened to close the border. The first time, it was because of Central American migrants. The second time, it was because he was angry Democrats wouldn't fund a border wall (see 1812280006). This time, again, it's because of Central American migrants. He tweeted, "If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States throug [sic] our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING..... ....the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week. This would be so easy for Mexico to do, but they just take our money and 'talk.' Besides, we lose so much money with them, especially when you add in drug trafficking etc.), that the Border closing would be a good thing!"
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that unless Mexico, the U.S. and Canada go back to the bargaining table to change enforcement provisions, labor unions will oppose passage in Congress for the NAFTA rewrite. Labor unions are seeking the ability to self-initiate complaints under the labor chapter, and they want binding state-to-state disputes restored. Currently, any country can block a panel in that system.
The White House said the U.S. trade representative and the Treasury secretary made progress in talks with China's Vice Premier Liu He in Beijing this week, and that the administration looks forward to the Chinese delegation's arrival in Washington next week.
Tariffs levied in the name of national security, whether under Section 232 or other statutes, could only last 120 days without affirmative congressional approval under a proposed bill from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. This approach is similar to what's being considered in the Senate Finance Committee, but this bill, introduced March 27, also provides more information and consultation for Section 301 tariffs, such as those currently applied to Chinese goods. Under Section 301, the International Trade Commission would receive descriptions about what products will face tariffs, and at what rates, how long a tariff would last, and the ITC would produce a report on the impact on the economy. The bill would allow Congress to pass a joint resolution of disapproval of these tariffs, but that vote could be vetoed by the president. The bill is called the ‘‘Reclaiming Congressional Trade Authority Act of 2019.’’
The World Trade Organization ruled that the U.S. did not comply with a previous order to end a Washington state subsidy for Boeing manufacturing, which, the Appellate Body said, cost Airbus sales in 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014, to Fly Dubai, Delta, Icelandair and Air Canada.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., is leading the charge to roll back Section 232 tariffs and put Congress in the driver's seat for future 232 actions, but he doesn't know how close the consensus Senate Finance Committee bill will come to his vision for how to address what he called an antiquated law.