Alexandra Whittaker, a trade counsel on the House Ways and Means Committee, is being promoted to chief trade counsel, with the departure of Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative nominee. Before joining Ways and Means in 2019, Whittaker worked at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in both Washington and Geneva. She graduated from Spelman College and the Howard University School of Law.
toarticlessource documents
Search Primer
Multi-word term: Place inside quotes to ensure an exact match together (e.g. "China import").
Term list: Separate terms with spaces, not commas or semicolons to find either word (e.g. AD/CVD antidumping).
Acronyms: Use all capital letters (e.g., ACE).
Required term: If a term must be included in any resulting articles, prefix it with a plus sign (e.g., CBP +releases).
Excluded term: If a term should be excluded from any articles being found, prefix it with a minus sign (e.g., -ruling).
Singular form: Use the singular form when doing multi-word terms (e.g. "russian export control" instead of "russian export controls").
Shortest word form: When you have different word forms in a quoted term, include the shortest version if it is the last part of the expression (e.g., "entity list" instead of "entity listing" or "entity listed").
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer called others to join him in condemning of the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol. Lighthizer, in a signed tweet Jan. 6, said: “All patriotic Americans should condemn the violence we saw at our Capitol today. This is inconsistent with our democracy and our most cherished values.”
With all nominations not confirmed during the past two years now expired, the White House has renominated Joseph Barloon, acting deputy U.S. trade representative, to be a judge on the Court of International Trade. If confirmed, he would replace Leo Gordon, who retired. The nomination was among those sent to the Senate Jan. 3.
The additional Section 301 tariffs on goods from the European Union announced late Dec. 30 (see 2012300062) will take effect “with respect to products that are entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 12, 2021,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a notice. USTR said in a Dec. 30 news release that it would increase the tariffs as part of the ongoing World Trade Organization dispute over Airbus subsidies. The announcement disrupts settlement talks and “exceeds the amount of retaliation authorised by the WTO,” a European Commission spokesperson emailed. “The Commission is analysing the data in detail and will look at all options available on how to respond.”
Wendy Cutler, the lead negotiator for the Trans Pacific Partnership, and James Green, who was the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's senior official in China, are questioning whether a new European Union-China investment agreement will undercut the united front President-elect Joe Biden wants on Chinese economic abuses.
Witnesses overwhelmingly argued against tariffs on Vietnamese imports, during a virtual hearing Dec. 29 hosted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, with numerous business representatives saying it was the choice not to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership, not any kind of currency issue, that makes it harder for U.S. exports to penetrate Vietnam. Trade groups representing importers from Vietnam noted that their members moved sourcing from China to Vietnam precisely to avoid Section 301 tariffs, and some said putting comparable tariffs on Vietnamese imports would cause companies to relocate back to China.
There will be $840 million in emergency appropriations for CBP, in light of its lost fees during the COVID-19 pandemic, one of many areas where Congress voted to dedicate additional funding through Sept. 30, 2021. The massive omnibus spending bill that passed both chambers late on Dec. 21 also dedicated an additional $10 million for ports of entry technology. The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund will receive $50 million more than in the last fiscal year. It uses 92% of the fees collected for maintenance purposes, an estimated $1.68 billion in all in the current fiscal year.
In an interview with the BBC, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that finishing the U.S.-United Kingdom free trade deal should be palatable to the next administration, with its language around labor standards and climate change, but U.K. resistance on agriculture standards is one of the obstacles to getting it finished in the next month. “We're both leaders in the world on digital trade, on financial services. And I think we could do an awful lot to write the rules together, the best rules together,” he said, according to a story published Dec. 17. “There's a short period of time they're going to have to try to wrap this up. But I think it's something that can happen. It'll require compromise on both sides.”
A small deal that would restore India's Generalized System of Preferences benefits is something that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal have made headway on, Lighthizer said while speaking to the Confederation of Indian Industry. “My guess is we are not far away from a deal like that. Keep in mind, obviously, we have a political change going on over here and that’s going to be a bit of a setback, certainly, to the extent that I can facilitate that, which I would be happy to do it, but there is going to be some changes and my guess is that is going to slow things up,” he said Dec. 16 during an online interview.
Sen. Rob Portman, a former U.S. trade representative, said he's glad House Ways and Means Committee chief trade counsel Katherine Tai is the nominee for his old job, because he thinks “that will help with moving an agenda forward vis a vis Congress.” Portman was one of eight former USTRs speaking on a webinar Dec. 17 hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.