Mexico and Canada emphasized how the COVID-19 pandemic has proven the need for interlinked supply chains, but U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai emphasized supply chains' downside as she, Mexico's economy minister and Canada's trade minister sat down to the first Free Trade Commission meeting of the USMCA. Tai said, "Not only have we discovered the fragility of our supply chains, but we have just begun to appreciate the degree to which they run counter to our collective goals of ensuring that workers within North America, and outside it, are paid a fair wage, in a safe workplace."
China’s latest export control compliance guidelines closely mirror U.S. guidance and provide significant new insight into how the country will interpret its export control law (ECL) (see 2011030033 and 2010190033), law firms said. Companies operating in China may find that their U.S. compliance programs translate well to China’s rules, the firms said, which now include guidance for risk assessments, reporting procedures and audits.
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Ahead of the first Environmental Committee meeting under USMCA, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments on topics that should be discussed, and advance questions for the public session of that meeting. The committee meeting will be June 17, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT.
More than 40 Republican lawmakers urged President Joe Biden to refrain from providing sanctions relief to Iran, saying that nation is supporting “terrorist activity” against Israel. The senators -- including Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- said Iran is supporting “Palestinian terrorists” in Gaza and has encouraged the group to attack Israel amid the ongoing conflict between the two sides.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in her second day of testimony on Capitol Hill, heard again and again from members of Congress who are hearing from companies in their districts that they want Section 301 tariff exclusions back. She heard repeatedly that the 9% countervailing duties on Canadian lumber are making a bad situation worse. And she heard that the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill and Generalized System of Preferences benefits program should be renewed. On each topic, both Democrats and Republicans shared concerns, though on GSP, Republicans only spoke of the cost to importers, while Democrats worried about the effects of GSP on the eligible countries. Tai testified for more than four hours in front of the House Ways and Means Committee on May 13.
The Senate likely will vote on the Endless Frontier Act next week and should pass the bill before the end of the moth, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said May 13. The bill, which would provide more federal funding and incentives for semiconductor research, has “strong” bipartisan support, Schumer said, and will help maintain U.S. technological leadership over trade competitors, including China. “The Endless Frontier Act would right the ship by making one of the largest investments in American innovation in generations,” Schumer told the Senate.
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai generally avoided being pinned down on timing as she was asked about rekindling trade negotiations with the United Kingdom and Kenya, the pause on tariffs on European imports, and a solution for steel overcapacity that could make way for the lifting of Section 232 tariffs.
Uyghur Human Rights Project Board Chair Nury Turkel told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that his nonprofit wants swift passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would create a rebuttable presumption that goods from China's Xinjiang province were made with forced labor. "The 11 current Withhold-release orders (WROs) are a wholly inadequate response to the gravity of the crimes, the harm to American workers whose wages are undercut by forced-labor competition, and the unwitting complicity of American consumers who buy face masks, hair weaves, cotton apparel, and solar panels produced by the forced labor of Muslim Uyghurs," he said in his prepared testimony.