The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted the transcript of the Aug. 19 hearing on the Section 301 investigation in response to France's digital services tax (see 1908200020).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking Office of Management and Budget approval to renew its exclusion request form for Section 301 tariffs, USTR said in a notice. The form was previously approved by OMB under an "emergency" review (see 1906170025) and is set to expire at the end of the year, USTR said. The burden estimate for the form was also revised, based on comments received in response to the emergency processing notice, the agency said.
France’s digital service tax (DST) is a radical departure from international norm, discriminates against U.S. companies and undermines efforts to reach global, multilateral consensus on the digital economy, tech companies and trade groups told U.S. officials on Aug. 19 (see 1908140023). Witnesses from Facebook, Google, Amazon, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the Information Technology Industry Council testified before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and officials from various federal agencies. Representatives from the departments of Commerce, State, Agriculture, Homeland Security and others questioned tech witnesses as part of the USTR’s Section 301 investigation of France’s DST (see 1907100076).
In preparation for a public hearing on China's compliance with its World Trade Organization commitments, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments at regulations,gov, docket number is USTR-2019-0010. Comments and requests to testify are due by midnight EDT Sept. 18, The hearing will be held Oct. 2 by the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee at 1724 F Street NW, Washington, D.C., beginning at 9:30 a.m.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments on which sites and physical markets should be on the Notorious Markets List. Written comments in the Special 301 out-of-cycle review are due by Sept. 30.
A Japanese newspaper said that Japan and the U.S. have begun working on text for a free trade agreement. "The points of contention have become very clear and discussions have been progressing,” said Kazuhisa Shibuya, a senior policy coordinator at Japan’s Cabinet Secretariat, at a news conference following the talks, a report in The Japan Times said. He also said the two sides are talking about rules of origin, which suggests that the U.S. is entertaining tariff elimination on at least some industrial products, not just rescinding the automobile Section 232 threat in return for agricultural market access.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted to its website Aug. 14 its upcoming notice in the Federal Register detailing new Section 301 tariffs on a fourth list of $300 billion in Chinese imports (see 1908130033). According to the notice, beginning on Sept. 1, goods included in the first group of the list must be filed under subheading 9903.88.15. Then, effective Dec. 15, tariffs take effect on a second list of goods under subheading 9903.88.16.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted the transcript from the Aug. 5 hearing on imposing tariffs on EU products (see 1908050019). The proposed tariffs are in response to a World Trade Organization decision that found EU countries had improperly subsidized Airbus aircraft production (see 1904090031).
LIz Truss, the secretary of state for international trade in the United Kingdom, said her country is looking forward to "leaving the straitjacket of the EU," and said that a free trade agreement with the U.S. "is the inevitable next step." Truss, who met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during her visit to Washington, said they're trying to "get things moving."
A new provision in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s rules of origin for automobiles should prevent automobile manufacturers from having to segregate parts on the production line and also make origin calculations less burdensome, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the Senate Finance Committee in one of a series of written answers to questions the committee posed to him at a June 18 hearing. Under the renegotiated NAFTA, called USMCA, certain “core parts” listed in Column 1 of Table A.2 must be originating for a vehicle to be originating, but Article 3.9 permits producers to bundle the parts under Column 1 together as a “super core” part when calculating the value of non-originating material (VNM) for origin purposes. “Many vehicle producers do not segregate core parts when producing vehicles, but use or bundle them within different modules along the production line,” USTR said. “The ‘super core’ calculation allows such producers to meet the core parts requirement without having to segregate each of the parts and do separate, burdensome calculations. The super core calculation incentivizes U.S. producers to use more originating content and maintains their competitiveness without accruing any possible efficiency losses from having to segregate core parts,” the agency said.