Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with Mexican officials Dec. 16 to talk about Mexican plans to ban the import of genetically modified corn. The meeting came after the Biden administration heard from Congress that the U.S. should confront Mexico over the policy.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments by Jan. 30 that identify policies or practices that would put a country on the intellectual property watch list, it said in a Federal Register notice. It is not planning a public hearing, so commenters will be asked to respond to written questions from administration officials.
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the former House Ways and Means Committee chairman who is retiring from Congress at the end of the month, told reporters in a farewell press conference that he thinks, with divided government, the administration will not be able to impose its will in trade and international tax policies by avoiding tariff reductions.
House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, and outgoing New Democrats Chair Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., introduced a resolution that asks the U.S. trade representative to re-launch negotiations at the World Trade Organization to liberalize trade in environmental goods.
The U.S. on Dec. 13 confirmed it has received a request from China for consultations at the World Trade Organization over U.S. semiconductor export controls (see 2212120061) and said it opposes China’s move. “As we have already communicated to the [People’s Republic of China], these targeted actions relate to national security, and the WTO is not the appropriate forum to discuss issues related to national security,” Adam Hodge, spokesperson for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said in an emailed statement.
China took to the World Trade Organization Dec. 12 to challenge U.S. export control measures on semiconductor chips and other products, an official at China's Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation. China referred the export restrictions to the trade body's dispute settlement mechanism, claiming the U.S. has been "generalizing the concept of national security."
Two former government officials, one a leader at a think tank, the other a lawyer at Akin Gump, acknowledge that even as businesses continue to believe quitting the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a tactical error, "there is no conceivable scenario in which the United States could sign onto the [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for] TPP as it exists today. Strong opposition from both sides of the political spectrum to key elements of the deal would prevent congressional approval."
The World Trade Organization issued a series of four rulings Dec. 9 finding that the U.S. Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs set by President Donald Trump violated global trade rules. In the landmark rulings, a three-person panel found that the duties violated Articles I, II, XI and XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The dispute panel said the tariffs, which the Trump administration said were needed to maintain U.S. national security, were not "taken in time of war or other emergency in international relations," as mandated by Article XXI(b)(iii) of national security protections, so the duties violate the GATT.
More than half of the House Ways and Means Committee members, including all three of the Republicans vying to be its chairman in the next Congress, are asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to initiate formal dispute resolution consultations with Mexico over Mexico's barriers to U.S. crops that are genetically modified or use other biotechnology.
A readout of a Dec. 1 meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Mexican Economy Secretary Raquel Buenrostro, a new appointee, said Tai "reiterated the importance" of Mexico imposing a ban on the import of goods made with forced labor. Tai also said it's urgent consultations over what the U.S. sees as discriminatory investment policies in Mexico's energy sector make "meaningful progress."