The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Nov. 19 that U.S. and Ecuadoran officials talked trade and investment on Nov. 10, covering intellectual property, the environment, labor and agricultural trade. The two sides are working on a Protocol on Trade Rules and Transparency, and plan to conclude before the end of the year. The protocol would include provisions on trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, anti-corruption, and cooperation on small and medium-sized enterprises. A fourth meeting of the group of negotiators is planned to be in Ecuador next year.
In a Joe Biden administration, some tariffs can be unilaterally withdrawn, but others would require complex negotiations to sort out, said Peterson Institute for International Economics nonresident senior fellow Anabel Gonzalez. She asked PIIE Senior Fellow Chad Bown and former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman where they think the new administration's energies should be directed, during a Nov. 18 webinar.
The U.S. needs to work closer with allies on export controls and foreign investment screening to counter China, a Republican House member and two former Trump administration officials said. They said the U.S.’s current unilateral approach to trade restrictions is not working and could cede U.S. technology leadership to China.
Twenty-three trade groups, led by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States and Farmers for Free Trade, are asking U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to work harder to resolve the Airbus-Boeing dispute, and thus remove European Union retaliatory tariffs on distilled spirits, cheeses, potatoes, nuts, fruits, juices, chocolate, ketchup and agricultural equipment. These retaliatory tariffs are the second round on ag exports, as the EU put 25% tariffs on whiskey, orange juice, rice and sweet corn in 2018 over steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by the U.S. Some will rise to 50% next June, the groups said in a Nov. 18 letter.
The European Council approved a tariff package that would eliminate customs duties on U.S. lobster imports in exchange for reduced U.S. duties on several European Union products, including prepared meals, crystal glassware, surface preparations, propellant powders and lighters (see 2008210028). The package, which the European Union said would be the first EU-U.S. tariff reduction in two decades, could increase market access for both EU and U.S. traders by about $240 million per year, the council said in a Nov. 18 news release. The package needs European Parliament approval. If enacted, it would take effect retroactively from Aug. 1 for five years.
More than a dozen countries officially signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership on Nov. 15 after years of negotiations (see 2005130018), paving the way for lower trade barriers for a range of countries throughout the Asia Pacific. The deal -- signed by the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states and China, Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand -- aims to become an “unprecedented mega regional trading arrangement,” the countries said in a joint statement, covering a market of about 2.2 billion people.
The Joe Biden transition teams have been announced. The team that is communicating with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the International Trade Commission and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency includes Democratic alumni; experts on trade, industrial policy and currency flows; and union critics of past free trade policy. The teams “are responsible for understanding the operations of each agency, ensuring a smooth transfer of power, and preparing for President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect [Kamala] Harris and their [C]abinet to hit the ground running on Day One,” the announcement said.
The European Union will officially increase tariffs Nov. 10 on about $4 billion in U.S. goods due to past tax breaks for Boeing, the European Commission said Nov. 9. The World Trade Organization in October granted the EU permission (see 2010130029) to levy the tariffs, which were also endorsed by WTO members (see 2010280047).
The World Trade Organization announced on Nov. 6 that a planned meeting for Nov. 9 to choose the next director-general for the organization will be postponed until further notice. “It has come to my attention that for reasons including the health situation and current events, delegations will not be in a position to take a formal decision on 9 November,” Ambassador David Walker, chair of the general council, said. The U.S. has opposed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the candidate most likely to win consensus (see 2010280051), as the Office of U.S. Trade Representative says the WTO needs someone with trade experience. Okonjo-Iweala is an economist with experience at the World Bank and nonprofits, as well as government service (see 2010290030).
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said a renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program could happen either by packaging the bill with an omnibus spending bill, or, if Congress just passes another temporary spending bill, by attachment to a tax extenders bill.