Democratic Lawmakers Push USTR, EU To Collaborate More on Trade Enforcement

Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and House Ways and Means Ranking Member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., urged U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom to work more closely to enforce international trade regulations. In a letter (here), the lawmakers noted that the U.S. and China have collaborated at the World Trade Organization and other multilateral bodies on trade enforcement, including leveling a joint WTO case effort against Chinese export restrictions on raw materials (see 1607190039), but they said other cooperation hasn’t gone far enough. An EU official countered the lawmakers' claims, saying in an email that this was the third joint WTO action filed by the U.S. and EU, showing that "we do work together, and effectively." Experts in the European Commission, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department should collaborate on whether the upcoming expiration of a section of China’s WTO Accession Protocol in December obligates countries to deem China a market economy, the lawmakers said. China argues that the expiration of the protocol section that stipulates China can be treated as a non-market economy for antidumping purposes underlies an obligation for other countries to treat it as a market economy.