Tariff rate quotas of 30% imposed in 2018 under a global safeguard tariff against solar cells and solar panels were legal under international trade law, a panel at the World Trade Organization announced. The Section 201 tariffs fell to 25%, then 20%, and were supposed to fall to 15% in 2021, but are at 18% instead (see 1711010040 and 2010130028).

China's ambassador said that if the Senate's China package or the EAGLE Act that passed the House become law, " they will hijack China-U.S. relations and gravely damage America's own interests." Qin Gang, who spoke at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Aug. 31, said these bills were formed out of misunderstanding China, disinformation about China, and "no knowledge."

The Central America-Dominican Republic Apparel and Textile Council says that while job growth in its industry is "an important part of any solution addressing the root causes of irregular migration from Central America to the United States," it disagrees with some critics of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), who note that exports have not grown since the trade agreement has been in effect, and says a looser apparel rule of origin is needed (see 2104140047 and 2107210039).

Less than two weeks after the U.S. and Mexico announced a resolution to a Rapid Response Mechanism complaint over labor violations at a General Motors plant in Mexico (see 2107090019), the second vote at the plant in Silao resulted in a rejection of the protection union. The complaint was brought because that same protection union did ballot-stuffing and intimidated workers during the first vote, advocates said.

The Mexican government says the U.S. has agreed to immediately work to schedule visits of U.S. authorities to Mexico to review how commercial fishing of shrimp is protecting endangered sea turtles. The U.S. banned the import of shrimp from Mexico earlier this year over the issue (see 2105040034). Mexico sent its agriculture secretary and the head of the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission, among others, to argue for the lifting of the ban. “The Mexican delegation shows the importance that the President of Mexico gives to this issue, something that was recognized by the representatives of the United States,” Mexico said in an Aug. 12 news release, according to an unofficial translation.

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said there is now political support to move forward on an agreement to curb subsidies that lead to overfishing. The draft text has been blessed by all the heads of delegations in Geneva, she said in a news conference July 15.

As countries around the world work on a agreement on how companies can be taxed, the European Union is delaying a planned digital services tax, many news outlets are reporting. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has proposed goods that would be subject to additional tariffs because digital services taxes were determined to be discriminatory, but all those tariffs are on hold as tax negotiations continue.

The European Union and the U.S. working together have the leverage to change China's distortions in the world economy, experts speaking during a three-day series on EU-U.S. trade issues said. But it's not easy, with the economic interests of German manufacturers in China, the history of trade tensions across the Atlantic, and bureaucratic torpor on both sides, they said.

The moderator of a panel on the results of the president's visit to Europe asked the European Union's ambassador to the U.S., Stavros Lambrinidis, what he would say to critics who say that nothing was solved on the EU-U.S. irritants? Those critics say that the can was just kicked down the road.

The Mexican government told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that it will look into the allegation that workers' rights were violated at the Tridonex plant in Matamoros, and that it will share the results of the review no later than July 24. The Mexican government sent the letter June 18, it announced in a June 19 press release. The AFL-CIO had asked USTR to bring the complaint under the Rapid Response mechanism of USMCA, and USTR agreed to do so (see 2106100011).