Mara Lee

Miller Baker, co-chair of McDermott, Will & Emery's appellate practice, will have his nomination for the Court of International Trade considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee during a Nov. 28 hearing. Baker once served as counsel to Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Also during the hearing will be consideration of the nomination of Timothy M. Reif, a senior adviser in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, for elevation to the CIT. He previously was general counsel at USTR, and chief international trade counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee.

An aluminum manufacturer, aluminum consumers and the head of the dairy processors' lobby told reporters and congressional staff members that they don't want quotas as a resolution to the metals tariffs on Canada and Mexico -- even if those quotas have "head room" above current production, as they said is rumored.

China will be hurt more than the U.S. by their trade war, but growth will be dampened in both countries, according to a recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD forecasts that the Chinese GDP will drop by .5 percentage point if the current U.S. tariffs that are set to rise from 10 percent to 25 percent do so on Jan. 1; it will drop by 1 percentage point if tariffs are levied by the U.S. on all Chinese exports. And, business uncertainty could cause a drop of 1.3 percentage points, the Nov. 21 report suggested.

The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body is establishing panels to review seven countries' complaints about Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as panels on Chinese, Canadian, Mexican and European retaliatory tariffs in response to those tariffs. The countries that requested a WTO verdict about the U.S. action include China, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Turkey and the European Union. All said that the tariffs, claimed as necessary to protect national security, are really safeguards, but the U.S. did not follow safeguard rules. The retaliatory tariffs, aimed to mirror the cost of the tariffs, are illegal, the U.S. argues. Countries hit by safeguard tariffs can raise tariffs in response, but only after a WTO panel says they can.

Ten Republican senators, led by avid free-trader Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, wrote to the White House Nov. 20 recommending a lame-duck session vote on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. "We are concerned that if the Administration waits until next year to send to Congress a draft implementing bill, passage of the USMCA as negotiated will become significantly more difficult," they wrote. They said that fast track requires a 30-day waiting period between the final legal text's submission and a draft implementing bill's submission, but said that final legal text could be sent before the signing.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a 53-page update to the Section 301 investigation that says there has been no fundamental change in China's "acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation, and indeed [it] appears to have taken further unreasonable actions in recent months." This Nov. 20 report, which comes 10 days before USTR Robert Lighthizer, President Donald Trump and other administration officials meet with China's president and negotiators, seems to counterbalance Trump's sunnier tone of late (see 1811190032).

The director of Global Trade Watch and the AFL-CIO point person on trade are calling on supporters to talk to their members of Congress now, to ask them to pledge not to vote for the new NAFTA until changes are made to labor standards and provisions extending exclusivity for brand-name medicines. Lori Wallach, of Global Trade Watch, said of the original NAFTA, "This kind of corporate power grab branded as a free trade agreement [is] what birthed the fair trade movement."

By the time NAFTA's replacement agreement is signed Nov. 30, Mexican Ambassador Geronimo Gutierrez said, his "expectation is that we will have ... a solution to the tariffs on steel and aluminum, or at least a very clear track that gives certainty to all parties involved that a solution is coming," he said at a Nov. 20 Brookings Institution event on U.S.-Mexico relations. "We are working heavily on that in the next nine days."

President Donald Trump suggested the trade conflict with China may not continue to escalate, saying repeatedly that China wants a deal. "And I think a deal will be made," he told reporters at the White House on Nov. 16. "We'll find out very soon." Trump said that China "sent a list of things that they’re willing to do, which was a large list, and it’s just not acceptable to me yet. There were four or five big things left off. I think we’ll probably get them, too. But it’s -- as you know, it’s a very complete list. I think it’s 142 items, and that’s a lot of items."

Congress has been fairly passive on tariffs so far, Sen. Doug Jones acknowledged at a field hearing in his home state of Alabama, but, the Democrat said, "hopefully, as we go into a new Congress we will see some more activity." Jones, who heard from farmers, steel consumers, the Port of Mobile, auto manufacturers and steel mills during his hearing Nov. 19, said he believes that several administrations "have been fast and loose with this national security measure," referring to Section 232. The measure was used as the basis to hike tariffs on steel and aluminum, and could be used for similar actions on imported uranium, auto parts and autos. Jones noted the bill led by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio -- Jones is a co-sponsor (see 1808010048) -- that would give Congress the opportunity to veto future Section 232 tariffs.