The top trade official from the EU, European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, said the incentives for the green transition in the Inflation Reduction Act appear to discriminate against automotive, battery, renewables and energy-intensive businesses operating in the EU. "It will not be easy to fix it -- but fix it we must," he said during an Oct. 31 speech at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Prague. He also said, "This is an issue of concern for many countries and businesses, which I have raised with our US partners over these past weeks, and it featured prominently in today's discussions."
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative explained why it declined a petition to investigate alleged export targeting violations by the Mexican government and produce exporters in a Federal Register notice released Oct. 27. There wasn't much more detail than the original release announcing the decision. The notice says: "Due to the complexities of the factual and legal issues raised in the petition, the U.S. Trade Representative could not conclude during the 45-day statutory review period that an investigation would be effective and is not opening an investigation at this time."
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, in a Federal Register notice published Oct. 26, asked for applications from people who would like to serve on panels that review final determinations in antidumping or countervailing duty proceedings and amendments to AD/CVD statutes of a USMCA Party. These people would be on the roster from April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024. Applications are due by Nov. 30, and can be submitted at www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2022-0015.
The U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council will next meet on Dec. 5. The two sides announced this week. The council’s third meeting will be held in the Washington, D.C., area and comes after the second meeting, held in May in Paris, where the two sides agreed to several export control and investment screening initiatives (see 2205160033).
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that she's committed to pushing for WTO reforms "that will strengthen the organization’s ability to deliver for American workers amidst significant global challenges." Their Oct. 13 meeting was the subject of a USTR readout. Tai said they also talked about the next phase of fisheries subsidies negotiations.
After saying they were conscious of one year left on their self-imposed deadline, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis "agreed to increase the pace of discussions about the global steel arrangement," according to a readout of the Oct. 13 meeting provided by USTR. The EU and U.S. are working on a way to restrict access to their markets for steel that is higher in embedded greenhouse gas emissions, as well as protecting their markets from exports from countries creating non-economic overcapacity (see 2210130068).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced changes to Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers listed under exclusions from Section 301 tariffs effective for goods have either not been liquidated, or where entries that were liquidated but are not yet final, as of Oct. 14, according to a Federal Register notice released Oct. 13. The changes implement recent revisions to the tariff schedule, including those that took effect Jan. 1, 2022, and July 1, 2022, that affect subheadings previously listed as eligible for the exclusions. See USTR's notice for a full list of changes.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said concentration of wealth, de-industrialization, the decimation of factory towns and fragile supply chains were consequences of "aggressive liberalization and tariff elimination" over the last 40 years.
Having received no requests to testify on Russia's fulfillment of its international trade commitments as a World Trade Organization member, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a notice it's canceling the planned Oct. 4 virtual public hearing on Russia's compliance, meant to inform USTR's report to Congress.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative wants Congress to bring back the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, it announced Sept. 29, and it wants Congress to consider designating countries in the Pacific Islands Forum that are developing countries as a regional association.