Farmers will be able to apply for trade assistance payments past the original deadline of Jan. 15, because they have not been able to apply since the partial federal government shutdown began Dec. 22, 2018. Farmers who already certified their production are receiving checks. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Jan. 8 that the deadline will be extended by the number of business days the government was closed, once the shutdown ends.
Mid-level trade talks in Beijing discussed "ways to achieve fairness, reciprocity, and balance in trade relations between our two countries," according to a summary of the three days of talks released Jan. 9 by the U.S. Trade Representative. They also focused on China's pledge to buy more agricultural products, energy, and other goods and services, in order to address the persistent trade deficit. The summary said they discussed how there could be effective verification and enforcement of any deal. The US-China Business Council reacted to the round by saying "progress should include a mechanism for the removal of tariffs and measurable, commercially meaningful outcomes."
Revenues were flat in the first quarter of fiscal year 2019, as a major decline in corporate income taxes was offset by a sharp jump in tariff revenue, the Congressional Budget Office reports. Customs duties increased by $8 billion, or 83 percent, compared with the same October-December quarter in 2017. CBO said the increase was "largely because of new tariffs imposed by the Administration during the past year." CBP said in November that it has assessed more than $10 billion under the recent Trump administration Section 201, 232 and 301 trade remedies (see 1811260010).
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the new Senate Finance Committee chairman, said that while there's room for Democrats to get some of their priorities in the new NAFTA, he thinks President Donald Trump should play hardball if Democrats insist on reopening negotiations. "I want to sit down and talk to those Democrats and see what they have in mind, because surely they can't have in mind renegotiating. But there's things we can do, like side letters on what our feeling is about it," he said. "If they're reaching the point where you gotta go back to the negotiating table, I would encourage the president to pull out of NAFTA, and hope that they're smart enough not to let that happen."
Trade talks have not yet begun between the European Union and the U.S., but EU Trade Minister Cecilia Malmstrom told reporters Jan. 9 after a bilateral meeting in Washington with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that the two "took stock" of where the working group is.
Mid-level talks in China that are attempting to resolve the trade conflict with the U.S. continued past the original two-day schedule, according to reports from media outlets with reporters in China. President Donald Trump, just after 8 a.m. on Jan. 8, tweeted, "Talks with China are going very well!" The editor in chief of a Chinese newspaper tweeted that he thinks the fact that they continued for a third day "sends a signal: The two sides are in serious talks and working hard to solve the disagreements between them."
Three Florida legislators, from both the House and Senate, have reintroduced a bill that aims to change the rules of antidumping cases to benefit Florida fruit and vegetable growers who have lost market share to Mexican farms. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said the bill "levels the playing field for Florida fruit and vegetable growers by allowing them to more easily combat Mexico’s unfair and illegal trade practices." Rep. Al Dawson, D-Fla., also sponsored the bill.
New Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced his trade policy staff, keeping several who served under the previous chairman.
The U.S. is confronting Peru over changes to its logging oversight, a move described by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as an unprecedented step that makes it clear that the Trump administration "takes monitoring and enforcement of U.S. trade agreements seriously...."
Ambassadors from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, along with officials from the Agriculture, Energy, Commerce and Treasury departments, will conduct trade negotiations in China starting Jan. 7.