U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has said he hopes to reshape NAFTA in a way that appeals to both Democrats and Republicans. Some of the most prominent critics in the House of Representatives on NAFTA said April 5 that while they appreciate some of his positions, he has a long way to go to convince them.
Parties that wish to add to or remove products from the Generalized System of Preferences, change the GSP status of beneficiary countries, waive competitive need limitations, or oppose de minimis waivers must file their petitions with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative by midnight on April 16, the agency said in a notice. If an importer is interested in retaining GSP status for a product on the de minimis list -- a product for which total imports from all countries did not exceed $23.5 million in 2017 -- the importer does not need to make a request for a waiver. However, parties that wish to contest a de minimis waiver should do so at regulations.gov.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative highlighted a handful of gains for U.S. exports in Japan, South Korea, Africa and South America while also highlighting irritants with China, India and Vietnam, in its annual National Trade Estimate Report. Aside from the lowering of trade barriers achieved in the rewritten U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), USTR noted that in January 2018, Japan recognized U.S. automobile safety standards for front and rear crashes, "thereby reducing the cost and burden for U.S. auto exporters." It also praised some anti-piracy actions in Peru and counterfeit seizures in Argentina. On the barriers side, the report again laid out the case against China that the Section 301 technology transfer enforcement action is based on. It also complained that India's price controls on knee implants and coronary stents, along with a refusal to allow U.S. companies to withdraw some products from the market, forces the U.S. to sell some products at a loss. "India has indicated it may apply similar price controls on additional medical devices."
Rwandan apparel exports will no longer receive benefits through the African Growth and Opportunity Act, because the small African country refused to back down from its coming ban on used clothing imports. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative intends to suspend duty-free treatment for "all AGOA-eligible apparel products from Rwanda in 60 days." Increased tariffs on Rwandan apparel will have a minimal effect on trade figures between Rwanda and the U.S., according to the AGOA website. The U.S. exported $75 million worth of goods to Rwanda in 2016, and imported $26 million. Apparel is not in the top five categories for Rwandan exports to the U.S., and total apparel exports to the U.S. from there are under $300,000 annually. In 2016, $18 million, or 69 percent of all Rwandan exports to the U.S., were coffee.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer filed a request for consultations at the World Trade Organization to “address China’s discriminatory technology licensing requirements,” his office said in a March 23 news release. President Donald Trump’s memorandum proposing Section 301 tariffs on about $60 billion worth of Chinese goods imported to the U.S. directed Lighthizer to address “China’s discriminatory technology licensing practices” through a WTO dispute proceeding (see 1803220034), of which the consultations request was the first step, Lighthizer's office said.
Business interests are continuing to sound the alarm that widespread tariffs against China as punishment for intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer are a bad idea (see 1803160009). "The Administration should not respond to unfair Chinese practices and policies by imposing tariffs or other measure that will harm U.S. companies, workers, farmers, ranchers, consumers, and investors," said a letter sent March 18 by 45 business groups to President Donald Trump. The signatories -- which included five regional customs brokers' trade groups and the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America -- were led by tech industry trade groups.
The U.S. will request World Trade Organization consultations with India to resolve a trade dispute, as it contends that five Indian government programs provide $7 billion in illegal subsidies for exports. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer made the announcement March 14, with a statement that said, in part, that “USTR will continue to hold our trading partners accountable by vigorously enforcing U.S. rights under our trade agreements and by promoting fair and reciprocal trade through all available tools, including the WTO.”
The U.S. trade representative's proposal to simplify bringing antidumping and countervailing duty complaints on produce could have several unintended consequences, according to Darci Vetter, a former chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. One of the U.S. proposals for NAFTA 2.0 is to allow producers in a certain region -- say, Florida tomato growers -- bring an AD/CVD complaint during their crop season, rather than requiring that 51 percent of all growers nationwide sign on to the complaint (see 1709130031). Vetter spoke March 8 at a Georgetown Law School event.
The Japanese Business Federation (Keidanren) and the United States Council for International Business wrote to U.S. governors suggesting that foreign-owned U.S. auto and auto parts factories could be endangered if the U.S. trade representative insists on "economically unsustainable" rules of origin for automobiles. "As of 2015, Japanese companies had invested a cumulative $421 billion in the U.S., supporting more than 856,000 jobs in communities throughout the U.S. with average salaries of more than $80,000," the Feb. 21 letter said. The two groups say it's time to update NAFTA to deal with digital trade and intellectual property rights, but that they wish "to emphasize the need to 'do no harm'" in the rewrite.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asked Peru to verify that three 2017 timber shipments do not contain any illegally harvested timber. The U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement includes verification measures on timber, and in the first round of checks in 2016, Inversiones Oroza was found to have exported illegally harvested logs. As a result, the U.S. banned imports from that company for three years, unless it is able to verify before then that it is now complying with the law (see 1710190041). Peru also acted, saying it would hold Oroza officials accountable, amend export documentation requirements, enhance timber inspections and create a timber tracking system in the Amazon corridor. “We are committed to using all available tools to ensure illegal timber from Peru is not entering the United States at the expense of American timber producers and workers," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a Feb. 26 statement.