Mara Lee

Complaints about weak enforceability of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement were found among both trade advocates and free-trade skeptics as they reacted to the signing of the pact Nov. 30 in Argentina. Customs and trade facilitation elements were praised by many interest groups, but the failure to get higher de minimis levels from Canadian and Mexican negotiators was a disappointment, several said. And the fact that steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico remain troubles many, with the Global Automakers saying "it is unfathomable that this important issue has not been resolved in the context of these negotiations."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the new NAFTA "lifts the risk of serious economic uncertainty," and President Donald Trump said he doesn't "expect to have very much of a problem" getting the deal through Congress, because it's been "so well reviewed." While most Democrats in the House of Representatives are not rejecting Trump's NAFTA rewrite out of hand, none who publicly responded to the Nov. 30 signing rushed to endorse it, either. It must go through a few more steps before it is approved.

A committee meeting at the World Trade Organization on agriculture focused on heavy subsidies to farmers in both the developed and developing world, with particular criticism of India by the U.S. and Australia, according to a summary of the meeting held Nov. 27 in Geneva. The U.S. repeated its complaint about cotton (see 1811130032), and was backed by Brazil, the European Union and Australia. India said the U.S. was not justified in linking domestic support to exports of cotton. New Zealand sided with India, saying that rich countries also distort agriculture economics through subsidies. The U.S. also questioned India on an increased tariff on milk whey powder, from 20 percent to 40 percent. India said the higher tariff is still under its bound tariff rate. The EU complained India repeatedly raises tariffs to restrict trade, and that the gap between the applied tariff and the WTO-bound rate is a problem. The U.S. wanted to question Ghana about import requirements on poultry, but no representative was in the meeting from that country.

China used to levy a 25 percent tariff on the BMWs, Mercedeses, Lincolns and Teslas its dealers imported from the U.S., but it recently dropped tariffs on other countries' cars by 10 percentage points, and hiked tariffs on American autos to 40 percent. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, in a late-afternoon announcement Nov. 28, said that's not fair. “China’s policies are especially egregious with respect to automobile tariffs," he said. "Currently, China imposes a tariff of 40 percent on U.S. automobiles. This is more than double the rate of 15 percent that China imposes on its other trading partners, and approximately one and a half times higher than the 27.5 percent tariff that the United States currently applies to Chinese-produced automobiles." He said that at the president's direction, "I will examine all available tools to equalize the tariffs applied to automobiles."

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who will lead the Senate committee responsible for trade in January, tweeted his displeasure with remarks on trade talks by the European Union ambassador to Washington on Nov. 28 (see 1811280040). Ambassador David O'Sullivan said that if agriculture were included in a free trade agreement between the EU and the U.S., it would take three or four years to negotiate, and that's not what they want. Grassley, who owns a farm in Iowa, said the EU's stance hurts American agriculture, and added that he feels that EU officials "are trying to pull one over" on President Donald Trump "to the detriment of American farmers." He said that Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer "R too smart 4 that!"

The top-ranking Democrat in trade in the House of Representatives, and a man who once chaired the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, wrote to the U.S. trade representative and the U.S. labor secretary, asking them to push Mexican labor authorities to ensure that a labor election Nov. 29 is free and fair. There are 2,741 workers in Mexico at an Indian-held conglomerate who have the opportunity to choose a new union. The last time they voted, in 2012, worker chose to stay with an employer-sponsored union. The firm makes wire harnesses for U.S. automakers, the congressmen said. "This case is emblematic of Mexico's longstanding failure to afford workers the democratic right to choose their representatives," Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Rep. Sandy Levin, D-Mich., wrote Nov. 28. "We ask that you work with the Mexican labor authorities to underscore the importance of this particular election and highlight the critical importance of effectively enforcing workers’ rights to the success of a renegotiated NAFTA."

Karen Dunn Kelley's nomination to be deputy secretary of Commerce was approved by the Senate Nov. 28 by a 62-38 vote. She is being promoted from under secretary of Commerce for economic affairs, and had been acting deputy secretary.

President Donald Trump, still upset about General Motors' plans to shutter assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio, and transmission plants in Michigan and Maryland, tweeted that if the tariff on cars matched the one on light trucks, "many more cars would be built here," and GM would not be closing the plants. "Get smart Congress," he tweeted on Nov. 28. "The President has great power on this issue - Because of the G.M. event, it is being studied now!"

A former Office of the U.S. Trade Representative deputy predicted that the president of China and President Donald Trump would meet in the middle at the G-20 in Argentina, neither resolving the problems between the two countries nor declaring an impasse. He did not sound as confident that some kind of progress would be enough to halt the escalation in tariffs. "I think the signals from both countries are [that] they know this is an opportunity," Robert Holleyman said, as he opened a Nov. 28 Tariff Town Hall sponsored by tuna canneries. "I hope this gets us out of the current morass."

Sen Rob Portman, R-Ohio, predicted on Nov. 28 that a plan toward ending the steel and aluminum tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico will come before Nov. 30. "My sense is Mexico might not sign [the new NAFTA] at the end of this week unless there's some sort of resolution," he said to a group of about 35 at the Hudson Institute. The Mexican ambassador has said his country would sign without a resolution on the tariffs, as long as there is a clear path to reach one (see 1811200036). But as far as preventing Section 232 tariffs on autos -- a matter of great concern for the EU and Japan -- Portman suggested he is powerless to even get a hearing on his related bill. "If you have any influence with the Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee," he told the audience, he would like them to use it. "We need a hearing."