The U.S.-Bangladesh Business Council aims to increase trade between the two countries, as Bangladesh is expected to graduate from the least-developed countries list by 2026. The U.S. is the largest importer of Bangladeshi products, and imported not quite $7 billion in 2019, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. A launch program hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said that Bangladesh imported more than $1 billion in American agricultural products.
A former international trade commissioner warned that as government works to make supply chains more resilient, it's important that the private sector is listened to, and that the solution is passed in Congress, rather than through an executive order, which increases the chances of yo-yo'ing policy as administrations change.
The American Association of Port Authorities said that $17 billion dedicated to ports is “a substantial down payment on the $29 billion in federal investments necessary to modernizing our ports and ensuring that our trade infrastructure remains strong.” It said that more than a quarter of U.S. GDP is connected to imports and exports through the seaports.
Alcohol trade groups and the retailers and restaurants that sell alcoholic beverages are asking for the tariffs on distilled spirits in connection with the Section 232 tariffs to be lifted and the pause in tariffs on wines and spirits in the aircraft subsidy case to be made permanent. Calling themselves the Toasts Not Tariffs Coalition, the 47-member coalition made the call March 23. They noted that European countries continue to tax bourbon and whiskey at 25%, and that that rate is set to double on June 1, because of U.S. tariffs on British and European Union-made steel.
Digital services taxes and Boeing-Airbus disputes need to be cleared away, but in just a few months, another potential trade friction between the U.S. and the European Union may arise, according to a recent think tank study on the trans-Atlantic economic relationship. The Wilson Center said the European Commission intends to release a carbon border adjustment mechanism proposal this summer, so the U.S. and EU consultations have no time to waste. “Because the EU and the United States are each other’s largest commercial partners, driven by significant mutual investments forming dense interlinkages across both economies, it will be important for the parties to work together to devise WTO-compatible CBAMs,” the study said.
A scholar at the market-oriented Mercatus Center, a research organization at George Mason University, said that although 25% tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum have now been in place for three years, there's no sign they've successfully reduced global overcapacity in those metals. Christine McDaniel, a senior research fellow at the center, cited a Wall Street Journal article that found that the steel industry was not revived by the price protection from imports. McDaniel wrote in a research paper that the administration should be asked what it would achieve to leave the tariffs in place indefinitely. But if they are to stay, McDaniel said the exclusions process should be reformed.
Imports of major high-demand consumer tech goods waned somewhat in January from December, but most categories remained far ahead of their January 2020 volume, according to Census Bureau trade statistics accessed March 9 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. It’s unclear whether the retreat in January shipments in major Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) tech categories was the result of global semiconductor shortages that impeded supply or were perhaps the first signs that torrid COVID-19 pandemic-era consumer demand for home connectivity and entertainment tools evident through most of 2020 was beginning to run its course.
Retail imports at the top U.S. container ports are expected to rise “dramatically” in 2021's first half, “as increased vaccination and continued in-store safety measures enable additional shopping options,” the National Retail Federation reported March 8. “The supply chain slowdown we usually see after the holiday season never really happened this winter,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. NRF estimates that U.S. ports handled 2.06 million 20-foot-long containers or their equivalents in January, down 2.3% from December as the holiday season ended but up 13% from January 2020. NRF is forecasting ports will handle 11.7 million containers in the first half, a 23.3% increase over the same period in 2020.
The Center for Data Innovation is calling for a public-private partnership with CBP to share data among brands, online marketplaces and enforcement agencies to fight the importation of counterfeits. “If it succeeds in cutting counterfeit imports by 50 percent, the Center estimates the initiative would add 15,000 to 20,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs while reducing the trade deficit,” the group said, as it announced a March 3 report fleshing out its ideas.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President Patrick Kilbride said existing intellectual property rights “formed the legal and economic basis for an unprecedented level of highly successful collaborations between government, industry, academia” and non-governmental organizations, He said the Chamber supports the COVAX global initiative and removing regulatory barriers to boost distribution of COVID-19 vaccines but not a waiver of IP rights. Proposals to waive IP rights “are misguided and a distraction from the real work of reinforcing supply chains and assisting countries to procure, distribute and administer vaccines to billions of the world’s citizens. Diminishing intellectual property rights would make it more difficult to quickly develop and distribute vaccines or treatments in the future pandemics the world will face,” Kilbride said in a statement issued March 2.