The Cheese Importers Association of America, in a Nov. 16 update on its political activities, told members it is working on a joint letter with the European Dairy Association that will go to the Biden Transition Team and the European Commission on the Airbus-Boeing dispute, calling for an end to tariffs on both sides. The CIAA also said it was asked to join the Coalition Against the Restaurant Tariffs, a group of suppliers and restaurants, to lobby Congress about these tariffs.

Farmers for Free Trade, a trade group that opposed the China trade war and the retaliatory tariffs on agriculture it caused, asked President-elect Joe Biden to make trade policy “an immediate priority” after taking office. “At a time when tariffs have cut off markets and farm income is heavily dependent on government payments, we need to forge a new path that builds back long-term, sustainable trade opportunities for farmers. That means trade not aid. It means rebuilding infrastructure to support the ag supply chain, rejoining multi-lateral trade compacts, intensifying and augmenting ongoing bilateral negotiations, supporting biofuels production and eliminating unnecessary foreign barriers that restrict American ag exports like meat and poultry,” Angela Hofmann, co-executive director of the group, said.

Americans for Free Trade, a trade group opposed to Section 301 tariffs, wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer asking that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative extend Section 301 tariff exclusions scheduled to expire Dec. 31. “As American businesses continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, they should not have to face the uncertainty of tax increases on January 1 because of a reimposition of tariffs on previously excluded products. It remains unclear whether USTR intends to offer additional product exclusion extension opportunities for the remaining exclusions. We believe it is crucial for USTR to do so,” the letter said. The group also asked USTR to extend all product exclusions that are currently in force for at least six months.

Steel industry associations in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa say there should be more ambition in the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity, and they call on governments in the forum to develop stronger disciplines on industrial subsidies and uphold effective trade remedies. They point with concern to “the recent increase in steel overcapacity at a time when steel demand is severely depressed by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

IRobot anticipates “going back to a world” of 25% Section 301 tariffs on Chinese-sourced goods once its List 3 tariff exclusion expires Dec. 31, CEO Colin Angle said on a Q3 call Oct. 21. The pandemic delayed iRobot’s “original plans” to shift most U.S.-bound production to Malaysia by the end of 2020 to reduce or eliminate its Chinese tariff exposure (see 2002070006), instead pushing the Malaysia transition “well into 2021,” he said.

An economist in Europe and one in the U.S. say policymakers talking about the vulnerabilities of supply chains are drawing the wrong conclusions from the shortages of personal protective equipment, but while they say policy decisions should be fact-based, it's not clear that procurement professionals can influence the politicians. Simon Evenett, an international trade professor at Switzerland's University of St. Gallen, said during a Peterson Institute for International Economics program that in most medical goods and medicines, China is not the largest supplier, though it is for PPE.

People are realizing they can no longer count on global supply chains operating relatively free of political interference, according to a think tank official who studies the global economy. “That said, it’s not so easy to change global supply chains,” said Homi Kharas, deputy director for the Global Economy and Development program at the centrist Brookings Institution. Kharas, who was speaking on a Brookings webinar Oct. 19, “Global China: Assessing Beijing’s growing influence in the international system,” said there's still an enormous amount of trade between the U.S. and China.

France recently said it would not wait for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to reach a compromise on digital services taxes, and said that it would start collecting taxes on internet giants in December. The National Foreign Trade Council said that's extremely troubling. “Moving ahead with a unilateral DST threatens to sap whatever political momentum exists to find multilateral consensus at the OECD, and to worsen bilateral economic relations with the United States,” said NFTC Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin. “This move by France will only give cover to other countries to move ahead with implementing and collecting other discriminatory services taxes, which would fray the global international tax framework.” The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has said it would levy Section 301 tariffs on French imports if the DST is implemented, including on champagne (see 2007130043).

Even though companies that make cars in North America are going to have to change sourcing to meet stricter rules of origin under USMCA, the director of international public policy for Toyota and the head of Canada's auto parts trade group say they expect carmakers to do so to keep the tariff benefits. Toyota's Leila Afas noted that automakers don't have to comply with trade agreements to import, but said, “I believe many will choose to comply with USMCA.” Afas and others discussed USMCA issues during an Oct. 14 webinar hosted by Rice University.

European wine and spirits imports have been hurt more than any other industry outside aerospace in the Airbus-Boeing dispute, and the trade group representing those importers is asking for Europe and the U.S. to agree to a 180-day truce and serious settlement negotiations. The National Association of Beverage Importers was reacting to the announcement that the European Union can add tariffs to $4 billion in U.S. exports; the U.S. is already taxing hundreds of European products at 25% as part of its retaliation for Airbus subsidies. Between 15% tariffs on aircraft and 25% tariffs on other products, the U.S. is targeting $7.5 billion in imports.