Two U.S. readouts of the meetings between deputies from the three USMCA countries focused on a multitude of irritants and concerns the U.S. has with Canada and Mexico but didn't mention talks on how to resolve the U.S. violation of USMCA in its interpretation of the auto rules of origin (see 2301110058). Mexico and Canada did not issue their own readouts.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she and U.K. Secretary of State for International Trade Kemi Badenoch talked about how to strengthen the U.S.-U.K. trade relationship, how to reform the World Trade Organization, and how to confront "the challenges posed by non-market economies."

The U.S. readout of the first round of negotiations for the 21st Century Trade Initiative with Taiwan said the two sides reached consensus in a number of areas, and will continue to negotiate on trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, domestic regulation of services and approaches to boost small companies and fight corruption.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal did not announce any breakthroughs after their Jan. 11 meeting, but their joint statement pointed to some trade irritants that might be resolved in the future.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, just before she signed a memorandum of cooperation with Japan on fighting forced labor (see 2301050039), suggested that auto or auto parts imports could be in CBP crosshairs after a British university alleged that many cars could have content touched by Chinese forced labor.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Japan’s Minister for Economy, Trade, and Industry Nishimura Yasutoshi will sign a Memorandum of Cooperation to launch a task forced on the promotion of human rights and international labor standards in supply chains on Jan. 6, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.

Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Terry McCartin, along with other U.S. officials, will travel to Taipei for in-person negotiations for the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, which has similar objectives to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The negotiations are scheduled for Jan. 14-17.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced eligibility for “trade surplus” tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for sugar originating in certain free trade agreement countries for calendar year 2023. USTR found Colombia, Panama and five members of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) eligible for the TRQ. The agency found that Chile, the Dominican Republic, Morocco and Peru do not qualify.

As World Trade Organization members continue to struggle to decide how to change the trade-related intellectual property waiver conditions, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked the International Trade Commission to produce a study on how the global market for vaccines, diagnostics and treatment has been affected by the current approach on intellectual property. The USTR said stakeholders and members of Congress disagree, "even on basic questions around whether there is adequate global supply of diagnostics and therapeutics. These interested parties also diverge on whether extending these flexibilities to diagnostics and therapeutics would in fact improve access, particularly in non-high-income countries, or undermine innovation."

Two readouts from the administration say that Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jayme White and Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves told a top Canadian official that they are concerned about proposed legislation that would affect digital streaming services, tax digital services and, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, discriminate against U.S. businesses.