The agriculture ministers from the largest economies around the world said they "are concerned about the increasing use of protectionist non-tariff measures, inconsistently with WTO rules." The ministers met in Buenos Aires July 27-28, and issued a statement at the end of the meeting about numerous issues, including trade. They said they are committed to setting sanitary and phytosanitary regulations on international standards and assessment of risk appropriate to the circumstances, and intend to "refrain from adopting unnecessary obstacles to international trade." The statement says they also "welcome and support the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) decision on developing a globally harmonized Electronic Phytosanitary Certification Basis (ePhyto) as a concrete and efficient way of facilitating international trade."
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 U.S. could be on a "pretty rapid track with the Mexican talks" to close NAFTA, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said, speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Indo-Pacific Business Forum July 30. He said that Mexico's role in NAFTA is "intellectually more complicated" than Canada's, and "there are fewer issues with Canada." So, Ross said, if the Mexico side can be solved "we should be able to fill in with Canada." Ross's comments contrast with what U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Senators last week (see 1807260029), when he said that "I don't believe [Canadians] have compromised in the same way the United States has and Mexico has," and he suggested closing the deal with Mexico would force Canada to bend.
President Donald Trump both praised Italian products -- saying he owns some of them -- and complained about the more than $30 billion trade in goods deficit with Italy during a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the White House July 30. Trump said he announced a breakthrough with the president of the European Commission last week, and he said he looks forward to opening new commercial opportunities with Italy "that will reduce our trade deficit substantially and increase our mutual prosperity."
The bilateral meeting between Mexico and the U.S. on July 26 was very productive, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said, saying it was evident that the chief NAFTA negotiator for the next administration and U.S. Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer have a rapport, as they have known each other for years. Jesus Seade, who represents Mexico's president-elect, was the ambassador for Mexico's delegation to the World Trade Organization at the same time Lighthizer worked in Geneva.
A slightly changed Miscellaneous Tariff Bill passed the Senate unanimously July 26, but it likely will not take effect until the fall, because the House of Representatives has left for a five-week August recess. Once the revised version passes the House and is signed by the president, it will take effect in 30 days. The House passed its version of the bill Jan. 16, by a 402-0 vote (see 1801170012).
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross pointed to the European Union's interest in working on a trade deal (see 1807250031) that addresses non-tariff barriers and some industrial tariffs as "a real vindication that the president’s trade policy is starting to work." Ross, who was speaking to reporters traveling with the president to Iowa July 26, said Donald Trump's approach is to make it painful for other countries to continue their trade stances.
Twenty Republicans on the committee that handles trade in the House of Representatives wrote to President Donald Trump July 25, asking him to start negotiating directly with Chinese President Xi Jingping. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, asked Trump to meet with Xi weeks ago (see 1807110024), and the letter uses the same kind of flattery for Trump's deal-making prowess that Brady has often repeated (see 1807170004). "We are confident that if you personally engage with President Xi, you would reinvigorate the negotiations and develop meaningful solutions that will establish free, fair, and lasting trade between the United States and China and improve the competitiveness of U.S. companies," the letter says. "To your credit, you have developed a strong personal relationship with President Xi."
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the effort to get China to change its industrial policy and intellectual property practices will take years, but added that "that's not to say what we're doing now will be in place for years." Lighthizer was testifying July 26 to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the administration's trade policy, and was pressed again and again on how long tariffs will continue to increase costs on American businesses, and how long retaliatory tariffs will damage their ability to export.
Two Southern states senators introduced their bill on Section 232 tariffs while the president was talking to the European Union about threatened auto tariffs. The Automotive Jobs Act of 2018 requires the International Trade Commission "to conduct a comprehensive study of the well-being, health, and vitality of the United States automotive industry before tariffs could be applied." The bill is co-sponsored by Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala. Both have significant auto plants in their states.
The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Trade is trying to force the administration to disclose information about its decision-making process on tariffs. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., would have to get the House Speaker to bring the resolution up for a vote, in addition to securing a majority vote. The resolution asks for documents, spreadsheets and slide presentations that explain why the president chose a global 25 percent tariff on steel after the Commerce Department gave a global 24 percent tariff as one option, and why he made the aluminum tariff 10 percent, rather than 7.7 percent, as laid out by Commerce. It also asks for information on how the administration intends to help exporters hurt in the trade war, and its strategy on resolving the problems laid out in the Section 301 report, either through multilateral action or through negotiations with China.