Costa Rica Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta, who chairs the World Trade Organization's agriculture negotiations, plans to release "as soon as possible" a revised draft negotiation text for an agriculture package ahead of the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 12th Ministerial Conference, the WTO said. Peralta also said she aims to submit her report to the Trade Negotiations Committee Nov. 19 to capitalize on this "critical time" ahead of MC12. The first draft negotiation text for an MC12 agriculture package was introduced July 29. The main negotiation topics were "domestic support, market access, export restrictions, export competition, cotton, public stockholding for food security purposes (PSH) and a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) as well as cross-cutting transparency issues," the WTO said.
The Treasury Department changed its comment period for a proposed rule issued this week that could extend a deadline related to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.’s excepted state provision (see 2111120017). In a correction issued Nov. 17, Treasury shortened the comment period deadline from Dec. 15 to Dec. 10. The agency is seeking feedback on whether it should give Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom more time to cement their positions as excepted foreign states and excepted real estate foreign states, which would exclude them from certain CFIUS screening requirements. A Treasury spokesperson didn’t comment.
The Senate Finance Committee approved the nominations of Chris Wilson for chief innovation and intellectual property negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on a 24-4 vote, and María Pagán to be a deputy USTR, who would lead the delegation to the World Trade Organization, 27-1. Both are longtime civil servants at USTR (see 2108110038).
The United Kingdom’s new foreign investment screening law may draw more industry filings than first expected, Baker McKenzie lawyer Sunny Mann said. Although the U.K.’s new National Security and Investment Act doesn’t officially take effect until Jan. 4, Mann said many companies are already showing signs they plan to be careful and notify the U.K. before closing investment deals, rather than waiting for the government to intervene.
The Bureau of Industry and Security needs to better enforce its foreign direct product (FDP) rule, which is not adequately stopping Huawei and other Chinese companies from acquiring certain sensitive U.S.-produced technology, eight Republican senators said in a Nov. 15 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The senators said Commerce’s “lax enforcement” of the rule has encouraged other technology firms to sell to companies on the Entity List, said the lawmakers, who all serve on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
The Senate is “likely” to vote on the annual defense policy bill this week, which could include the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. In a Nov. 14 letter to lawmakers, Schumer said “there seems to be fairly broad” bipartisan support for adding USICA to the National Defense Authorization Act, which would allow a USICA negotiation with the House “to be completed alongside” the NDAA before the end of the year. The House plans to write its own version of USICA.
The U.S. should closely review the planned acquisition of Ports America by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which would cede U.S. control over the largest terminal operator in North America, the Federal Maritime Commission said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The acquisition would allow minority investor CPP Investments to hold “exclusive interest in a strategic United States enterprise,” the FMC said, and could allow Canada to increase diversion of U.S.-bound cargo through Canadian ports.
The Senate Finance Committee will have a hearing on the nominations of Maria “Marisa” Lago to be undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade and Lisa Wang for assistant secretary of Commerce on Nov. 16 at 10:15 a.m.
The Treasury Department is considering extending the deadline by which three U.S. allies must meet certain criteria to remain eligible for a foreign investment review exemption, the agency said last week. Treasury’s proposed rule would extend the deadline for one year to give Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom more time to cement their positions as excepted foreign states and excepted real estate foreign states, which excludes them from certain screening requirements by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. Comments on the proposal are due Dec. 15.
Bridget Reineking, former Treasury Department official, has joined Cooley as special counsel in the international trade and Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. practice, the firm announced. As a senior counsel in the Office of the General Counsel at Treasury, where she directed the office's national security work, Reineking helped implement the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018. At Treasury, she also was lead counsel for the Office of Investment Security, Cooley said.