Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary told Bloomberg that Japan does not negotiate with "any country that harms the national interest," and Yoshihide Suga said that if the U.S. wants a free-trade deal with Japan, it should rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The hosts of the G-20 meeting of finance ministers in Buenos Aires declined to criticize U.S. protectionism when pressed by reporters, or give specifics about what others said to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who was in attendance. Argentina's Finance Minister Luis Caputo said that while there are trade tensions, and that was the hottest topic at the meeting, "we had a very constructive dialogue. We have reasserted that trade and investments are an engine for growth, productivity, innovation, job creation... ."
The European Union recently issued the following trade-related release (notices of most significance will be given separate headlines):
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The international trading system is in its deepest crisis in 70 years, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström said, and while she understands the U.S.'s frustration with China's abuses, she laid the blame squarely on the U.S. In a speech July 19, she said the EU is concerned about the U.S. blocking appointments to the appellate body at the World Trade Organization, its attempt to justify steel and aluminum quotas on tariffs on national security grounds, its unilateral tariffs against China, and its use of "increasingly aggressive rhetoric at allies."
The European Union will implement new safeguard tariff rate quotas on steel imports on July 19, the European Commission said in a July 18 news release. The new TRQs follow an investigation (see 1803260015) into ways the EU could prevent a glut of steel imports after the U.S. put in place its tariffs on the metal. Tariffs of 25 percent will be imposed on imports of 23 categories of steel products after exceeding the average of imports over the last three years, the EC said. "The quota is allocated on a first come first serve basis, thus at this stage not allocated by individual exporting country," it said. "These measures are imposed against all countries, with the exception of some developing countries with limited exports to the EU. Given the close economic links between the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA) countries (Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein), they have also been exempted from the measures."
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of July 18 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
China filed an additional complaint at the World Trade Organization over the U.S. Section 301 tariffs. A 10 percent tariff on $200 billion in Chinese imports has not yet been imposed, and will not be imposed until public input on the more than 6,000-product list is received (see 1807110050). In the past, the U.S. has accepted consultations in Geneva with China even before tariffs begin (see 1804190039).
The European Union recently issued the following trade-related release (notices of most significance will be given separate headlines):