A half-dozen members of the House Ways and Means Committee -- including the outgoing Trade Subcommittee chairman -- sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer saying the steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada need to go. Five Republicans, led by Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana, signed the letter, as did Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis. Kind, whose dairy farming constituents are among those hurt by Mexican retaliation for the tariffs, is interested in leading the Trade Subcommittee next year. They wrote that "we urge you to put the highest priority on lifting the steel and aluminum tariffs and retaliation entirely as soon as possible, and certainly before congressional consideration." The USTR has said he is working on finding a solution to the tariffs on Mexico and Canada, but has not offered a timeline for when agreement might be reached. Only Australia has been given an exemption without a quota so far.
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 retiring chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross complaining that businesses can't get answers from the department, the exclusion process is too slow and staff provide ambiguous guidance when requests are rejected on technical grounds. Chairman Orrin Hatch and Wyden asked the department to get requests adjudicated in no more than 106 days, to clearly identify technical defects, and to improve its responses to questions. In their letter, they thanked Ross for adding a rebuttal and surrebuttal process, and for expanding exclusion eligibility to quota countries.
Apparel trade groups testifying at the Dec. 18 International Trade Commission hearing on a potential EU-U.S. trade deal said they see room for departures from past trade deal approaches. Steve Lamar, executive vice president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, and Julie Hughes, president of the U.S. Fashion Industry Association, received many questions about how they'd like the deal to be shaped. Both said they want immediate and reciprocal elimination of high duties on textiles, footwear and apparel, though Lamar noted there are some domestic sensitivities. The ITC asked him to elaborate and Lamar said there are some domestic producers of protective boots and of athletic shoes, and those producers would like their Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes to have gradual phase-outs of tariffs or keep their tariffs. Lamar said the exact number of lines has shifted over the years, from 17, to 19, to 23, but it's a small proportion of all footwear -- he said about 120 lines can have immediate tariff removal.
A routine biennial review of U.S. trade policy included sharp criticisms from longtime allies, as 19 countries took the floor at the World Trade Organization, with another 35 expected to do so before the two-day review was finished. The U.S. ambassador to the WTO, Dennis Shea, said the organization is not well equipped to handle the fundamental challenge posed by China, which continues to embrace a state-led, mercantilist approach to the economy and trade. Anticipating criticisms over America's refusal to allow any appointments to the appellate body, he said: "In our assessment, members are in the early stages of grappling with our collective failure to confront problems that have been growing for years."
World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff hailed countries' willingness to say reform is needed at the WTO as "a sea change," but said he's not sure when things will be resolved to the satisfaction of the U.S. "The U.S. has not said what it takes to resolve the appellate body impasse," he said. The U.S. refuses to allow any appointments to the appellate panels in the dispute settlement system, and if that continues, the possibility of appeal will end in December 2019, maybe sooner, if a panelist has a conflict of interest on a particular case. "It will be solved," he said. "Will we go over a cliff first?"
After 10 years of argument at the World Trade Organization, the U.S. dolphin-safe tuna labeling requirements are deemed to be justified for legitimate conservation goals, and not discriminatory toward Mexican fishing fleets. The appellate body report, issued Dec. 14, puts to rest Mexico's arguments that the measures were unnecessary and were discriminatory. At issue is the fact that in the part of the Pacific Ocean where Mexico catches tuna, boats commonly drag a dolphin in a net, because that attracts schools of tuna. Environmentalists say that puts stress on the dolphins. In order to qualify for dolphin-safe labeling, both a captain and an independent observer must certify this dolphin-as-bait method was not used.
China will lower tariffs on U.S. cars to 15 percent from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2019, and will drop additional 5 percent tariffs on auto parts, as well.The Chinese government said on Dec. 14 it had been forced to raise tariffs on American cars to 40 percent in response to "U.S. trade protectionism," and that it hopes the rollback will give the two countries space to intensify negotiations in the direction of "eliminating all tariff increases." The reductions will last through March 31. China called the rollback on 211 tariff lines "a concrete measure to implement the consensus of the two heads of state," according to an informal translation of a news release from the State Council Customs Tariff Commission.
President Donald Trump, whose demands for more border wall funding have run aground in Congress, tweeted early on Dec. 13 that the revised NAFTA will save so much more money that it pays for the wall. He said: "Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA, is so much better than the old, very costly & anti-USA NAFTA deal, that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!"
President Donald Trump predicted he'll make a "fantastic deal" with China, and, when asked by the TV interviewer how he could be so confident, said, "I know what I'm doing. It's business." He said during his "tremendous" four-hour meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina, "everything was agreed on. Now if we get it down on paper, that'll be another story, but I think we will." He said the meeting was so tremendous because he's levied 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports and is willing to levy tariffs on all Chinese imports to get the concessions he wants. "That would be devastating for China. They have now agreed to go buy soybeans, tremendous amounts of soybeans. You see that already happening," he said.
A corporate farmer, a farmers' lobbyist and a farm economics researcher discussed the politics and pocketbook effects of tariffs in the sector, and how much sway farmers will have in the outcome of trade policy. The trio -- along with former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack -- spoke on a panel at the Council on Foreign Relations Dec. 13. "Farmers want to stay with President Trump. A lot of them supported Trump," said Brian Kuehl, executive director of Farmers for Free Trade. "But I think the trade war is biting. Even for farmers we talk with ... who support the president, that patience is starting to wear thin."