Importers of steel products from South Korea that are subject to absolute quotas will be required to provide "certificates of exportation," CBP said in a notice. The quota on Korean steel is part of a deal that allows the country to avoid the Section 232 tariffs on steel in the U.S. (see 1805010027). CBP will require such certificates starting Oct. 18.
A recently reached U.S.-Japan free trade deal makes up 90 percent of the losses farmers experienced because the U.S. dropped out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during a Sept. 17 call with reporters. "I haven’t seen anything on paper, but according to [the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative], it puts us on this level playing field with our trading partners," he said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expects to finish negotiations with the House Democrats' working group on the NAFTA rewrite in the next 20 days. Grassley, speaking Sept. 10, said he spoke with Lighthizer Sept. 6. "I hope that's not too optimistic, but he's doing it, and so I can accept his word on it, I guess," Grassley said.
The U.S. trade representative and India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal have been talking on the phone, with the goal of trading a return to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program for better agricultural access, according to two sources following the trade talks. The original industry complaints about market access filed with USTR, requesting that India be expelled from GSP privileges were from the medical device industry and from the dairy industry. A lawyer following the trade talks said that "there's talk -- and this is still a very contentious issue" -- that the pricing controls on medical devices, such as stents, would be changed in India.
Rep. Ron Kind, co-chairman of the New Democrats' trade task force, said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has done a good job on outreach, and sounding sympathetic to Democrats' complaints about enforceability, labor and other issues they want changed in the NAFTA rewrite. But Kind, who was speaking to reporters on a conference call from the Midwest on Sept. 4, said that "for some reason there's been a reluctance on sharing paper, putting words down" that would change the trade deal to satisfy these requests.
CBP updated its guidance on how importers of goods excluded from Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum should file, to include information about the 232 exclusions portal (see 1906060060). "Importers and filers importing products granted an exclusion should submit the product exclusion number based on the exclusion Request ID using the 232 Exclusion Portal at https://232app.azurewebsites.net/steelalum," CBP said. The agency also provided some new information about quota exclusions that wasn't in the previous guidance released last year (see 1811080015). "Filers are to submit the applicable Chapter 99 HTSUS number i.e. 99038060 for steel articles and 99038511 for aluminum articles," it said. "Do NOT submit 99038061, which expired on March 31, 2019 and is NO LONGER applicable."
CBP has assessed about $35.9 billion in duties under the major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of Aug. 28, according to CBP's trade statistics page. That includes $27 billion in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The assessed tariffs under Section 301 will likely start to increase quicker once the planned 15 percent tariffs take effect on Sept. 1 (see 1908270066). CBP also has assessed about $6.1 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $1.7 billion under tariffs on aluminum. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines, washing machine parts and solar cells (see 1801230052), imposed Jan. 23, 2018, account for $1 billion in assessed tariffs.
President Donald Trump said Germany is a great trading partner, according to press reports from the G-7 summit in France. When asked if he is considering tariffs on German cars, as has been threatened under Section 232, Trump replied, "I hope not. We’re going to come to some new conclusions." He said the Europeans were negotiating in earnest. At a press conference, Trump also suggested Japan is unlikely to face auto tariffs on national security grounds. "It's something I could do at a later date, but we're not looking at that," he said. "We just want to be treated fairly."
A Japanese newspaper said that Japan and the U.S. have begun working on text for a free trade agreement. "The points of contention have become very clear and discussions have been progressing,” said Kazuhisa Shibuya, a senior policy coordinator at Japan’s Cabinet Secretariat, at a news conference following the talks, a report in The Japan Times said. He also said the two sides are talking about rules of origin, which suggests that the U.S. is entertaining tariff elimination on at least some industrial products, not just rescinding the automobile Section 232 threat in return for agricultural market access.
In a review of how the domestic industry has or has not been given breathing room to adjust to imports, the International Trade Commission says there has been some improvement in the financial performance of domestic washing machine producers, increased production and employment, and progress in implementing adjustment plans. Imports have declined, and Samsung and LG started production of washers in South Carolina and Tennessee, respectively, though they are having difficulties ramping up.