Trade ministers from the G-7 countries told World Trade Organization Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that they will provide political momentum to the WTO reform debate, during an online meeting March 31. “The multilateral trading system can be a force for good. It has increased competition and economic growth, helped raise living standards, and lifted millions out of poverty. It must serve the needs of all its members and provide the basis for free and fair trade. G7 Trade Ministers recognised that global trade should work for democratic and open-market systems and that these should not be undermined by unfair trade,” the joint statement of the trade ministers said. The United Kingdom hosted the call. The ministers agreed that the WTO needs to strengthen transparency, change the approach to special and differential treatment for developing countries, and reform dispute settlement.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released the 2021 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, detailing foreign market access barriers faced by U.S. exporters. The 574-page report examines 65 U.S. trading partners and country groups, including any import policies, tariffs, customs, procedures and phytosanitary measures that are restricting U.S. goods.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai held a video call with South Africa's Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel on March 30, during which they discussed their interest in improving the World Trade Organization. They talked about how South Africa “has benefited tremendously from its” African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) preferential treatment, and how they should find ways to enhance their trading relationship “to better serve both countries over the long-run,” according to a readout of the call.
The Joe Biden administration’s trade agenda should prioritize export control cooperation with Europe, work to remove trade barriers for U.S. exporters in Asian markets and address unfair Chinese trade practices, a U.S. technology industry group said. If U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai promotes the right trade “goals,” the U.S. can “re-establish” its technology leadership and boost export competitiveness, the Information Technology Industry Council said in a March 30 letter to Tai.
The Alliance for Trade Enforcement, an umbrella group, joined by 18 business groups representing food and candy manufacturers, tech and telecom, energy, pharma and others, is asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to pressure Mexico to reverse some policies or not to pass others that it says violate the new free trade agreement.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai talked with European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager about developing a more positive and productive trade relationship with the European Union. They agreed to work together on shared objectives related to large non-market economies, such as China, and on trade policy support for climate change goals.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in her first interview since taking office, said that she's hearing from stakeholders who say the additional tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods from China damages the economy, but she's not inclined to remove them without concessions from China. “No negotiator walks away from leverage, right?” she said. “I have heard people say, ‘Please just take these tariffs off,’” Tai told The Wall Street Journal. But “yanking off tariffs,” she warned, could harm the economy unless the change is “communicated in a way so that the actors in the economy can make adjustments.”
Bill Brock, a U.S. trade representative during the Reagan administration, died March 25 at age 90 of pneumonia, according to published reports.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing spoke March 26 about the two countries' free trade agreement, and agreed to talk more on digital trade, climate and reform of the World Trade Organization.
A readout of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's call with India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal made no mention of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, where India was the largest beneficiary before it was barred over U.S. medical device and dairy exporters' complaints. The Indian government did not release a press release summarizing its view of the call. Tai's office said that they “agreed to work constructively to resolve key outstanding bilateral trade issues and to take a comprehensive look at ways to expand the trade relationship.”