The United Kingdom government emphasized that its National Health Service will not pay more for drugs as a result of a U.S.-United Kingdom free trade deal, and that Britain “will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards.” The latter seems to be a reference to sanitary standards that frustrate U.S. exporters, such as a ban on anti-bacterial washes of chicken. The government issued its negotiating objectives and an analysis of the economic benefit to the U.K. of a free trade deal in the March 2 document.
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The annual trade policy agenda report, put out by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, celebrated victories in export market access in 2019, even as it reported that goods exports fell by $21 billion compared with 2018. Manufacturing exports, which accounted for 83% of total goods exports, were down by $34.7 billion in 2019. Agricultural exports, which accounted for 9% of total goods exports, were down by $3 billion in 2019.
During a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the United Kingdom’s International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said the U.K. wants a “highly ambitious” trade deal with the U.S., adding that the deal is one of her “top priorities.” The U.K. said it will release negotiating objectives this week, according to a Feb. 27 notice, and the two trade officials “reiterated their commitment” to begin negotiating the deal. “We want an agreement that benefits both small businesses and entrepreneurs and every industry, from agriculture and manufacturing to professional and business services,” Truss said. “The U.K. stands ready to negotiate a highly ambitious free trade agreement.”
The European Union's Committee on International Trade Chairman Bernd Lange, in a roundtable with trade reporters Feb. 27, said that he asked officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative if there's any truth to rumors that the U.S. will either pull out of the government procurement agreement at the World Trade Organization, or that it will seek to raise its bound tariffs, a process that would begin at the WTO. “I got confirmation from all stakeholders this will not happen,” said Lange, who was in Washington to talk with officials from USTR, Congress, unions and think tanks. But, he added, “sometimes decisions in the United States are taken quite quick,” so he can't be sure that answer will be true next week.
During a hearing that House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said was designed to test President Donald Trump's claim that the phase one agreement with China is a “tremendous win for the American people,” most of what was revealed was that Democrats are skeptical of the purchase promises and likelihood of success of further negotiations, and Republicans admire Trump's confrontation of China.
The House Ways and Means Committee has invited a union official, a commissioner from the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a former assistant U.S. trade representative, a major university president, and two farmers to testify on U.S-China trade competition. The hearing, which starts at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 26, will include testimony from Tim Stratford, the former assistant USTR; Thea Lee, the commissioner who is also president of the left-of-center think tank Economic Policy Institute; Rafael Reif, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Owen Herrnstadt, chief of staff for the Machinists union; Tim Dufault, a Minnesota farmer; and Richard Guebert Jr., president of the Illinois Farm Bureau.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he doesn't expect the U.S. to negotiate over the tariffs it has put on European goods like Airbus planes, Scotch whiskey, French wine, and Spanish wine and olive oil until the World Trade Organization rules on Boeing subsidies. Currently, there are 10% tariffs on Airbus planes and 25% tariffs on the wine, liquor and food items; the aircraft tariff is set to climb to 15% on March 18. The Boeing ruling is not expected for several months.
China has taken “numerous actions” to begin implementing its agricultural purchase commitments under the U.S-China phase one trade deal, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Feb. 25. China recently announced it will allow imports of U.S. “fresh chipping potatoes” (see 2002240011), lifted an import ban on U.S. poultry and poultry products (see 1911140019) and lifted restrictions on certain pet food imports (see 2002240010) from the U.S. China also updated its list of facilities approved for exporting animal protein, pet food, dairy, infant formula and tallow, updated the list of goods that can be exported to China as feed additives and updated an approved list of imported U.S. seafood species.
While a small deal could be announced during President Donald Trump's trip early next week to India, senior White House officials say that will be purchase announcements, not a full or partial restoration of India to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. While they declined to go into specifics on what the sticking points have been in talks on improving market access, they noted that the complaints of U.S. exporters are well known.
A bipartisan group of 19 senators, led by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., are asking the U.S. trade representative to get a deal done with the United Kingdom before the U.K. reaches its agreement with the European Union. The letter, made public Feb. 18, says the U.K. “has the greatest freedom of action now,” and getting a comprehensive agreement before the EU agreement will give the U.S. “the best possible chance of earning new access to U.K. markets.” They urged that the deal not be limited to a few sectors, and that he follow Congress's fast track negotiating objective.