Tech and creative industries universally hailed Senate confirmation Wednesday of China and trade expert Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative by a 98-0 vote. Tai inherits the USTR post as three rounds of tariffs on Chinese goods remain at 25%, over the concerns of tech and telecom stakeholders. Overhauling the tariff exclusions to give the process more “transparency and predictability” would be “very high on my radar,” Tai told her Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Feb. 25. The levies “disrupted a lot of people’s lives and livelihoods,” she said. BSA|The Software Alliance urges Tai to “promote digital trade policies that facilitate the responsible transfer of data across borders,” said CEO Victoria Espinel. During Tai’s time as lead trade counsel for House Ways and Means, she played “an instrumental role” in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, said TechNet: USMCA “included strong intellectual property protections and a landmark digital chapter that eliminated digital trade barriers and enhanced trade.” MPA CEO Charles Rivkin said Tai “fully appreciates that securing robust copyright protections overseas is fundamental to developing a worker-centric trade policy.” CTA (here), the Information Technology Industry Council (here), the Telecommunications Industry Association (here) and others also commented.

Tech and creative industries universally hailed Senate confirmation Wednesday of China and trade expert Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative by a 98-0 vote. Tai inherits the USTR post as three rounds of tariffs on Chinese goods remain at 25%, over the concerns of tech and telecom stakeholders. Overhauling the tariff exclusions to give the process more “transparency and predictability” would be “very high on my radar,” Tai told her Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Feb. 25. The levies “disrupted a lot of people’s lives and livelihoods,” she said. BSA|The Software Alliance urges Tai to “promote digital trade policies that facilitate the responsible transfer of data across borders,” said CEO Victoria Espinel. During Tai’s time as lead trade counsel for House Ways and Means, she played “an instrumental role” in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, said TechNet: USMCA “included strong intellectual property protections and a landmark digital chapter that eliminated digital trade barriers and enhanced trade.” MPA CEO Charles Rivkin said Tai “fully appreciates that securing robust copyright protections overseas is fundamental to developing a worker-centric trade policy.” CTA (here), the Information Technology Industry Council (here), the Telecommunications Industry Association (here) and others also commented.

Tech and creative industries universally hailed the Senate's 98-0 confirmation Wednesday of China and trade expert Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative. Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., didn't vote. Tai inherits the USTR post as three rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods remain in place at 25% and proposed duties on Vietnamese imports are still on the table from the Trump administration’s Section 301 investigation into Hanoi’s alleged currency manipulation.

Trade advocates and a trade scholar discussed how effective U.S.-Asia sectoral agreements could be, as well as the possible downsides of such agreements, during an Asia Society Policy Institute webinar Jan. 26. The Japan mini-deal was not exactly a sectoral deal because it lowered tariffs on a variety of products across different categories, but the agreement's digital trade plank is one that negotiators could consider as a template for a digital trade accord across more Asian countries.

Trade advocates and a trade scholar discussed how effective U.S.-Asia sectoral agreements could be, as well as the possible downsides of such agreements, during an Asia Society Policy Institute webinar Jan. 26. The Japan mini-deal was not exactly a sectoral deal because it lowered tariffs on a variety of products across different categories, but the agreement's digital trade plank is one that negotiators could consider as a template for a digital trade accord across more Asian countries.

CBP published notices in the Customs Bulletin revoking or modifying numerous rulings in 2020. These ruling revocations and modifications also apply to “any treatment previously accorded by CBP to substantially identical transactions.” When revoking or modifying a ruling, CBP is required by 19 USC 1625(c) to publish notice of the proposed action, and allow a period—generally one month—for comment before finalizing the action. An importer’s failure to advise CBP of “substantially identical transactions” or of a ruling not identified by CBP in these notices “may raise issues of reasonable care on the part of the importer or its agents for importations of merchandise subsequent to the effective date of this notice.” Rulings CBP revoked or modified in 2020 are as follows:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 21-27:

New licensing requirements for aluminum products are now set to begin Jan. 25, 2021, under a Commerce Department final rule creating a new Aluminum Import Monitoring and Analysis System. Similar to the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis System in place since 2005, the new scheme requires importers of aluminum or their customs brokers to submit information in an online portal to obtain an automatically issued license, then submit the license number with entry summary documentation.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 23-29:

The U.S. Trade Representative announced that Mexico “will establish a strict monitoring regime for exports of electrical transformer laminations and cores made of non-North American” grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES), and as a result, if there is to be a tariff or quota on electrical transformers or the laminations and cores that are used in them, Mexico will not be subject to it.