China has met 71% of its 2020 purchase goals for U.S. agricultural commodities under the phase one trade deal, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an “interim report.” The Oct. 23 report, released 11 days before the election, said the U.S. is on track for its “best year ever in sales to China.”
Joseph Barloon, general counsel for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and acting deputy USTR, was nominated by the White House to be a judge on the Court of International Trade. Before joining USTR, Barloon was a partner at Skadden Arps.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are accepting applications for new members to serve four-year terms on seven agricultural trade advisory committees, the agencies said Oct. 15. The available committees include the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee -- which advises USDA and USTR on existing trade agreements and negotiating new ones -- and Agricultural Technical Advisory Committees on the following commodity sectors: animals and animal products; fruits and vegetables; grains, feed and planting seeds; processed foods; sweeteners and sweetener products; and tobacco, cotton and peanuts. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and have “significant expertise” in both agricultural and international trade matters. Applications are due by 5 p.m. EST on Nov. 13.
The U.S. should sign a trade deal with Taiwan and increase cooperation on export controls, similar to U.S. partnerships with Japan and Australia, Asia experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said. Increased collaboration with Taiwan has strong support from Congress and the Taiwanese government, the experts said, and would make sense as the U.S. welcomes manufacturing and investment from Taiwan.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the trade facilitation agreement that the U.S. and Brazil signed Oct. 19 is very similar to the USMCA trade facilitation chapter, and that traders should expect more incremental progress in coming months. “There’s a lot more that needs to be done,” Lighthizer said during a U.S. Chamber of Commerce program Oct. 20. “We have ongoing negotiations on ethanol. Brazilians like to talk about sugar. There’s a variety of things in the agriculture area.”
A former negotiator on the phase one China deal, Clete Willems, said his goal in publishing a report on how to reform the World Trade Organization is to move the conversation beyond how to restore the status quo in Geneva.
A former U.S. ambassador to the European Union and the German envoy to the U.S. said a united front on China's trade distortions could make it more painful for that country to continue its current industrial policies. “With the rise of China and the relative decline of Western power it should be in our shared interest to use each other as an asset to leverage our power,” said Emily Haber, Germany's ambassador.
Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, told a business audience that his country and the U.S. have completed a trade facilitation agreement, an agreement on best regulatory practices, and an anti-corruption agreement. He said these treaties would “slash red tape and bring about even more growth to our bilateral trade with beneficial effects to the flow of investments as well.”
A bipartisan letter from 33 House members representing pecan-growing states asks U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to argue for lower tariffs on U.S. pecans imported by India as part of an agreement to reinstate that country's participation in the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. The Oct. 15 letter, led by Georgia Reps. Austin Scott (R) and Sanford Bishop (D), said the 36% tariff on pecans makes it difficult for American producers to compete in the market.
European wine and spirits imports have been hurt more than any other industry outside aerospace in the Airbus-Boeing dispute, and the trade group representing those importers is asking for Europe and the U.S. to agree to a 180-day truce and serious settlement negotiations. The National Association of Beverage Importers was reacting to the announcement that the European Union can add tariffs to $4 billion in U.S. exports; the U.S. is already taxing hundreds of European products at 25% as part of its retaliation for Airbus subsidies. Between 15% tariffs on aircraft and 25% tariffs on other products, the U.S. is targeting $7.5 billion in imports.