U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is pushing for agriculture to be on the table in trade talks with the European Union, and members of Congress continue to applaud that approach. A bipartisan group of 114 House members sent a letter March 14 to the USTR arguing that the EU has high tariffs on ag imports, "unscientific sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and protectionist policies on geographical indications that hurt American exports not only to the EU but also to countries all over the world." The letter -- led by Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn. -- says that a deal without agriculture would significantly jeopardize congressional support. The EU Parliament, in a non-binding vote this week, could not pass a resolution that said the EU should enter trade talks that include industrial goods and exclude agriculture. In order to start talks, all 28 member states have to approve a negotiating mandate.
The message from both parties in Congress on the steel and aluminum tariffs has become more pointed over the last six weeks, according to a source who's involved in the push to get the new NAFTA passed. That message is: We won't ratify the new NAFTA until those quotas are gone. The source, who works for a large business organization, said the administration is realizing "you don't lift them in the morning and then vote later that day."
The U.S. Council for International Business submitted its outline for how to improve the World Trade Organization to the Senate Finance Committee, which held a March 12 hearing on the WTO (see 1903120055). "Our recommendations for modernizing the WTO should not in any way be read as questioning the business support for WTO. Instead, they are intended to highlight areas for action that would strengthen the ability of the organization to more effectively meet the demands of a changing world," the trade group wrote.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., who was ranking member on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a prominent NAFTA foe, are soliciting signatures for a letter they plan to send later this month on the importance of including Mexican labor reforms in a new NAFTA, now called the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement.
With the second round of announcements on Section 301 exclusions (see 1903010029), trade professionals are trying to find patterns of what is granted -- so far, 985 requests -- and what has been denied -- a little over 4,500. About 3,300 requests on hundreds of tariff lines have been tentatively approved by USTR, if CBP says the exclusions are administrable. Nicole Bivens Collinson, who leads the international trade and government relations practice at Sandler Travis, said that if all of those were to go through, about 45 percent of all requests would have been approved.
The AFL-CIO said that it "will have no choice but to oppose" the new NAFTA if the Trump administration insists on a vote on it in its current form, in a lengthy March 14 post on its website. The coalition of labor unions, which has major influence in the Democratic party, made that statement just after saying that Mexico must pass its new labor law before Congress votes. That is also the position of the U.S. government.
The general counsel to the U.S. trade representative said that after five trilateral meetings with the European Union and Japan, the countries have reached "general agreement" on how the World Trade Organization should address subsidies and state-owned enterprises. He said it's not just U.S. blue-collar workers who have grown dissatisfied with globalization, and pointed to the new populist government in Italy, Brexit and the Yellow Vest movement in France.
Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., said that with an approval rate of just under 6 percent for steel exclusion requests when domestic firms objected, "it really looks like somebody's finger is on the scale." In a sit-down with International Trade Today, Walorski explained how what started with complaints from 10 businesses in her district -- which is heavy with steel-consuming RV manufacturers -- has made her office the place for companies around the country to share their problems with exclusions. "We knew this is probably what was going to happen," she said of the exclusion process that favors domestic producers.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said that while the Democrats have real concerns on how the new NAFTA "will affect trade, how it's going to affect the environment, how it's going to affect prescription drug availability," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has credibility in Congress, and will be listened to. Lighthizer is scheduled to address all Democrats on March 13, the first time he has met with the full caucus.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer heard dozens of questions about the new NAFTA and the fate of Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum from about 50 members in the New Democrats caucus, but specifics were few, even as one called it a "good, candid conversation."