Cummins CEO Tom Linebarger, who chairs the Business Roundtable Trade and International Committee, released a statement on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement after the Business Roundtable hosted President Donald Trump at its quarterly board meeting on March 21. “The CEO members of Business Roundtable, who lead companies with more than 15 million employees, strongly support congressional passage of USMCA implementing legislation this year. We stand united to preserve and modernize North American trade, which supports over 12 million jobs and a strong U.S. economy," he said. The Business Roundtable will work to build the necessary support to pass that bill, he added.

FedEx experienced “a significant amount of traffic that was put on the water” beginning in late summer as importers tried to beat the Jan. 1, 2019, increase in the tariff rate on List 3 of Chinese goods subject to Section 301 tariffs, CEO Fred Smith said on a March 19 conference call to discuss earnings in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019. Though President Donald Trump postponed the rate increase to March 1 -- and later delayed it indefinitely -- “there was a lot of inventory that was moved into the U.S.” in the calendar year Q4 and a subsequent slowdown in calendar Q1, he said. “So hopefully now with the anticipation of a trade deal, maybe we'll go back into a more normal cycle,” he said. FedEx estimates U.S. e-commerce numbers about 50 million packages in “average daily volume,” and forecasts that amount will double to 100 million by 2026, said Brie Carere, chief marketing and communications officer. “We expect one in four incremental e-commerce packages to be locally fulfilled between now and 2026,” she said. “Innovations” like the robotic FedEx SameDay Bot, unveiled last month, and the new FedEx Extra Hours program will help meet the trend, she said. Extra Hours “enables merchants to fulfill locally as late as midnight while enabling their customers to shop in the evening with next-day or two-day delivery,” she said.

Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports would reduce U.S. GDP by up to $1 trillion within a decade if left in place, concluded a Rhodium Group study for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The tariffs are “eroding” U.S. “competitiveness” in information and communication technology and “undermining globalized supply chains,” the study says. The report is to be released March 15.

The U.S. Council for International Business submitted its outline for how to improve the World Trade Organization to the Senate Finance Committee, which held a March 12 hearing on the WTO (see 1903120055). "Our recommendations for modernizing the WTO should not in any way be read as questioning the business support for WTO. Instead, they are intended to highlight areas for action that would strengthen the ability of the organization to more effectively meet the demands of a changing world," the trade group wrote.

American manufacturers expect a trade deal between the U.S. and China to be announced within “the next couple of weeks” but think tariffs on Chinese goods will likely remain in place for longer, said Ryan Ong, director of international economic affairs policy for the National Association of Manufacturers. Ong, speaking at an export controls and customs information session at KPMG offices in Washington on March 6, said the increasingly “intense negotiations” between the U.S. and China during the last few months suggest a deal is close.

The Organic Trade Association's new Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions program will allow organic companies to enroll in an effort to "help minimize or eliminate organic fraud," the trade group said in a March 6 news release. “Fraud in the global organic supply chain poses a significant threat to the integrity of the organic brand,” said Laura Batcha, CEO of the OTA. “For the past two years, the Organic Trade Association has prioritized significant time and resources into organic fraud prevention solutions. We are fighting fraud on many fronts, including through the 2018 Farm Bill and through private sector initiatives. The more companies that join this industry-driven program, the stronger the organic supply chain will be.”

The American Apparel and Footwear Association wants NAFTA to stay in place while Congress is working on ratifying its replacement, it announced March 4. "More than 200,000 American jobs in our industry are supported by NAFTA. We are calling on Congress to approve the USMCA this year and for the Administration to quickly and seamlessly implement it,” said Rick Helfenbein, AAFA president and CEO. The organization had previously joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-organized USMCA Coalition (see 1902250024) to push for passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to replace NAFTA.

Hank Paulson, who served as Treasury secretary during the George W. Bush administration, told an audience of trade advocates that even if a deal is reached with China, "the underlying tensions will persist and will be particularly intense in technology-related trade and investment." Paulson, who was introduced at a Washington think tank event by FedEx CEO Fred Smith on Feb. 27, said he never thought he'd see Democrats and Republicans applauding rising tariffs. "The trade debate in this city has changed markedly from just five years ago," he said.

Americans for Free Trade, a coalition of more than 150 trade associations, sent a letter to the White House Feb. 27 offering praise for the pause in escalations of tariffs on Chinese goods and asking that an agreement be reached that takes all tariffs away. "It is our hope that this momentum will build in the weeks ahead and lead to a final deal that addresses structural issues in China, removes tariffs on both sides, and eliminates trade uncertainty facing American businesses and farmers," they wrote. "Our coalition represents every part of the U.S. economy, including manufacturers, farmers and agribusinesses, retailers, technology companies, service suppliers, natural gas and oil companies, importers, exporters, and other supply chain stakeholders. Collectively, we support tens of millions of American jobs through our vast supply chains." Customs brokers and apparel, travel goods, furniture and jewelry importers were among those who signed the letter.

NSF Certification is now accredited by the American National Standards Institute to certify compliance with Food and Drug Administration food safety requirements, parent company NSF International said in a news release. The certification is required "for products imported under the FDA Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP), which is used to provide expedited entry" and is also "accepted by the FDA as an option for supplier verification to satisfy the [Food Safety Modernization Act] Supply-Chain Program and Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) requirements," the company said. Carey Allen, associate managing director of supply chain food safety operations at NSF International, said NSF "engages with suppliers and their customers to reduce the overall audit burden and incorporate specific customer requirements into third-party certification visits.”