House Democrats and the Trump administration are “on a path to yes” to a bill for ratifying the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Oct. 2. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., leads a USMCA working group that recently sent the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative a “counteroffer to what the administration has proposed,” Pelosi said. “When we can arrive at a place where not only do we have our issues addressed, but that we have enforceability that will make it real for America’s families and farmers, then we can go down that path.” President Donald Trump says he wants USMCA “to go forward, and we are awaiting the language on enforceability” from USTR, Pelosi said. She’s “hopeful” that House Democrats and USTR will reach agreement on USMCA enforceability, “and I’m hopeful that it will be soon,” she said. “We have a good working relationship” with USTR, she said. “Believe me, the quiet you hear is progress.”
The Trump administration is continuing the President’s Export Council until Sept. 30, 2021, the White House said Sept. 27. The council, a federal advisory committee -- which usually meets twice a year, according to the Federal Advisory Committee database -- did not meet in fiscal year 2018.
The State Department sanctioned Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and first secretary of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, according to a Sept. 26 press release. The State Department also sanctioned his children: Alejandro Castro Espin, Deborah Castro Espin, Mariela Castro Espin and Nilsa Castro Espin. Castro is being sanctioned for human rights violations, the press release said. "As General of Cuba’s Armed Forces, Castro is responsible for Cuba’s actions to prop up the former Maduro regime in Venezuela through violence, intimidation, and repression," it said.
China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the passage of a bill in a House committee that could change Hong Kong’s special status in customs and export controls. The bill, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (see 1909250053), would also require the Trump administration to assess whether Hong Kong is “adequately” enforcing U.S. export control and sanctions regulations.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, wants to ratify NAFTA 2.0, and believes the House will vote to do so in November or December. But in a speech Sept. 26 at the American Security Project, he told Mexican diplomats in the audience that they need to add more money to their labor budget.
Imposing sanctions and export controls on certain people and entities in Hong Kong for human rights violations may not achieve the U.S.’s goal and may only hurt U.S. companies, said William Reinsch, an international business chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Several issues related to detention and demurrage remain to be addressed as the Federal Maritime Commission moves forward with its recent proposed rule on detention and demurrage practices, said Richard Roche of Mohawk Global Logistics, at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s government affairs conference Sept. 23 in Washington. Key among these are notices of availability for cargo and charges for customs holds, he said.
Two Hong Kong bills that could affect trade with the Chinese territory passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee Sept. 25. H.R. 4270, the PROTECT Hong Kong Act, would ban the export of tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to Hong Kong, so that U.S. companies aren't complicit with crackdowns on protestors (see 1909190040).
When Democrats met in the House of Representatives the morning after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally initiated an impeachment inquiry, the bulk of the meeting was an optimistic briefing on the progress toward refining the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to satisfy Democratic priorities.
The U.S. and Japan signed a deal to open Japanese market access to more than $7 billion worth of U.S. agricultural exports, the White House said Sept. 25. The deal -- announced after President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met at the United Nations General Assembly in New York -- is an initial agreement as the two sides continue negotiating a comprehensive trade deal “in the months ahead,” the White House said.