The U.S. blocked requests from China, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Turkey and the European Union to examine the legality of steel and aluminum tariffs at the World Trade Organization on Oct. 29. Panel requests can only be blocked one time, so at the next meeting, the panels will be formed. The U.S. was also seeking panels on retaliatory tariffs from China, Canada, Mexico and the EU, and those were blocked.
The trade group suing the Trump administration over Section 232 tariffs on steel has made another fundraising appeal to help pay its lawyers. The American Institute for International Steel also sent out a similar letter in July (see 1807200023). The case is scheduled for oral argument in the Court of International Trade on Dec. 19. "We are in need of $90-100,000 more in the next two weeks if we are going to maintain the stride and pace that has taken us to this important point," the trade group wrote. Members that have not contributed should "take a moment to calculate what the Section 232 tariffs are costing your business," AIIS Chairman John Foster said. "As an example, of the two port members we spoke with just last week, one is down 50 steel ships this year, while the other is off 30 year on year. These two ports by themselves support a large number of import steel and aluminum related-livelihoods."
The Commerce Department has addressed less than a quarter of 4,000 exclusion requests submitted for the Section 232 tariffs on imported aluminum, the Aluminum Association said in its weekly email update. So far, Commerce has granted 763 exclusions and denied 142, it said. The rest are still under consideration, the group said. The Aluminum Association also released an updated exclusion request tracking document with all the requests posted through Oct. 18.
Trade promotion authority puts obligations on the administration to consult, and follow congressional objectives, but the provisions that constrain Congress have no teeth, former trade staffers from both sides of the aisle agreed. Stephen Claeys, a partner at Wiley Rein and former Republican House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee counsel, said the rules about how long Congress can delay a vote on a trade agreement, and the fact that they have to vote on it with no amendments, are wholly voluntary. "There is no TPA jail. There's no TPA judge," he said during a panel discussion hosted by The Federalist Society.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 15-19 in case they were missed.
Lifting the steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada before the NAFTA replacement is signed at the end of November would be a good idea, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told reporters Oct. 23. Portman was one of a handful of senators at a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer a little more than a week ago, and he said Lighthizer did not say that was his goal.
The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body committee, which will meet Oct. 29, will consider multiple requests for panels on the legality of the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, and on the legality of the safeguard tariffs that others imposed in reaction to the Section 232 action. The U.S. notified the WTO that its consultations with the European Union, Mexico, China and Canada on their safeguards were unsuccessful, and it asks for a panel in each of those matters. Canada, Mexico, Norway, Russia, the EU and China all asked for a panel on the metals tariffs.
The Philippines Secretary of Trade and Industry Ramon Lopez and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer issued a joint statement Oct. 22 describing "achievements resolving bilateral trade issues" between the two countries. The Philippines and U.S. have agreed to cooperate on automotive standards for imported autos; the Philippines has agreed to not discriminate against foreign electronics payments providers; and the U.S. will help the Philippines develop stronger cold chain practices, so it can export food that needs to be kept cold.
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- A recent change to ACE processing of absolute quota entries marks a “big improvement,” especially for West Coast importers, said Pauline Hogue, program manager-trade at CBP’s Los Angeles Field Office, at the Western Cargo Conference on Oct. 19. A switch from daily batch processing to hourly processing (see 1809180015) means quota entries are processed throughout the day, and any cargo that arrived after 4:30 p.m. Pacific time will no longer have to sit until the next batch is processed the following evening Eastern time. Now such shipments will be processed at 9:45 a.m. Pacific time the following morning. The change came as part of the deployment in ACE of absolute quota functionality, which hadn’t been initially included because absolute quotas hadn’t existed for almost a decade until they were imposed as part of country-specific deals to end Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Cause of Action Institute sued the Commerce Department "for failing to turn over public documents related to trade tariffs and tariff exemptions," the government transparency group said in an Oct. 18 news release. The group said in its complaint that Commerce failed to comply with public document requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Agencies are required to respond to FOIA requests within 20 days, but that time has elapsed and Commerce has not issued a final determination or released the records, the group said.