Vice President Kamala Harris, in a speech in Singapore, said that Singapore's government is beginning a dialogue "on how our two countries can better work together to strengthen supply chain resiliency in this region." Harris said that the pandemic revealed the vulnerability of supply chains for protective gear and for semiconductor chips. "You just ask anybody who's thinking about trying to buy a new car or a used car, and it is more difficult than it has been in a long time because, of course, supply chain issues impact production lines and impact goods getting to market," she said. "I will be meeting with key business leaders here in Singapore to discuss what more we can do together in this region of the world, with private and public sectors, including our own in the United States, to shore up supply lines and supply chains."
President Joe Biden signed an executive order July 9 that calls for the Federal Maritime Commission to "consider further rulemaking to improve detention and demurrage practices and enforcement of related Shipping Act prohibitions." The FMC should also "vigorously enforce the prohibition of unjust and unreasonable practices in the context of detention and demurrage" and request recommendations on the subject from the National Shipper Advisory Committee. The EO also suggests that the U.S. Department of Agriculture "consider initiating a rulemaking to define the conditions under which the labeling of meat products can bear voluntary statements indicating that the product is of United States origin, such as 'Product of USA.'” The EO addresses a wide range of issues meant to improve and promote competition in the U.S. economy, the White House said in a fact sheet.
President Joe Biden plans to issue a wide-ranging executive order this week that will address anti-competitive practices, including those affecting traders in the ocean and rail shipping industries, The Wall Street Journal reported July 8. Although White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the order will address broad wage and labor issues, it will also call on the Federal Maritime Commission to help traders overcome challenges that have impeded the flow of goods for months, the report said.
The Wall Street Journal reported July 1 that the 20 largest economies in the world, including India, one of the countries that has proposed a digital services tax, have agreed to the U.S. proposal that all companies would pay at least 15% corporate income taxes in every country where they operate. The Biden administration hopes that this agreement will be paired with an agreement to roll back DSTs, which Americans say are discriminatory toward large American companies. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has identified hundreds of products that could face U.S. tariffs if a DST solution is not found. The top Republican on the House tax-writing committee, Ways and Means, expressed dismay at the news. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, issued a statement that said this is a “global minimum tax structure that favors foreign-headquartered companies and workers over American ones. This is a dangerous economic surrender that sends U.S. jobs overseas, undermines our economy, and strips away our U.S. tax base. “Further, any agreement at the [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] must result in immediate repeal of all existing digital taxes and prevent any new digital taxes by the EU or others.”
The White House is nominating Max Vekich to serve on the Federal Maritime Commission.
In a Swiss readout after a meeting between Switzerland's President Guy Parmelin and President Joe Biden, the Swiss said the two delegations "discussed the status of the exploratory talks for a potential bilateral trade agreement." The U.S. readout of the same meeting did not mention trade.
The U.S.-European Union joint statement on trade says: "We will engage in discussions to allow the resolution of existing differences on measures regarding steel and aluminum before the end of the year. In this regard, we are determined to work together to resolve tensions arising from the U.S. application of tariffs on imports from the EU under U.S. Section 232." It also says, "We commit to ensure the long-term viability of our steel and aluminum industries, and to address excess capacity."
The leaders of Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, the U.S. and Italy agreed to work collectively toward eradicating the use of all forms of forced labor in global supply chains, and said they want concrete suggestions ready before the G-7 trade ministers' meeting in October.
A joint statement from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden said the two governments commit to the rapid settlement of the Airbus-Boeing subsidies dispute, and said the two countries will "pursue opportunities to deepen our already extensive trade relationship. " The possibility of a U.S.-United Kingdom free trade agreement was not explicitly mentioned, however.
A draft prepared in advance of the European Union-U.S. summit says the EU and the U.S. agree to work to find a way to roll back the Section 232 tariffs on European steel and aluminum by Dec. 1, Bloomberg reported June 8. The two sides previously said they were working on finding an effective way to counter Chinese overcapacity in metals by the end of the year, so the tariffs could be lifted. The EU has said it will immediately lift its retaliatory tariffs against American exports once the 232 tariffs are gone. The same draft also says the U.S. and the EU pledge to resolve the Airbus-Boeing dispute by July 11. That's when the temporary pause on tariffs on both sides is slated to end.