A joint statement by the leaders of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework countries said the trade pillar has made progress, and the White House said they will continue negotiations "to facilitate trade, advance workers’ rights through strong and enforceable labor standards, strengthen environmental protections, align our regulatory procedures, promote a fair and inclusive digital economy, deepen our technical assistance and economic cooperation, and advance inclusivity in our trade policy."
The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee introduced a bill that would require USDA and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to produce annual reports identifying the acts, policies or practices that create significant barriers to exports of U.S. fruits and vegetables or distort their own markets so that U.S. fruits, vegetables, nuts and flowers cannot be competitive.
The trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which already was being criticized for not being ambitious enough, is not going to be finished as quickly as the pillars run by the Commerce Department on tax and corruption, supply chains and climate, the administration acknowledged as Asian leaders meet in San Francisco.
Mary Thornton, former head of trade and export controls policy at Amazon Web Services, joined the Semiconductor Industry Association as vice president of global policy, SIA announced Nov. 2. Thornton will lead SIA’s global trade and economic security policy initiatives. Before joining Amazon, she was a senior trade negotiator with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, where she served as the U.S. trade attache to the World Trade Organization.
Two House members from California asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to talk to Turkey about its new retaliatory tariffs on American almonds. In an Oct. 31 letter, Reps. John Duarte (R) and Jim Costa (D), called the tariffs "burdensome" and said they give Australia, Spain, Uzbekistan and Iran an "unjustified competitive advantage over US almonds in the Turkish market."
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jayme White, whose portfolio covers Europe, the Western Hemisphere and the Middle East, is leaving his position, with his last day Nov. 1, the office announced.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she discussed the next steps for negotiations on the global arrangement on steel and aluminum with her EU counterpart, Valdis Dombrovskis, and said she updated France's Foreign Trade Minister Olivier Becht on the negotiations. Her Oct. 28 readout of the meeting with Becht said she "noted the importance of both sides continuing to work together in a productive manner over the next several months. She reiterated the United States’ commitment to remain at the negotiating table in order to reach a meaningful outcome."
The Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the fifth negotiating round for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, held in Malaysia Oct. 15-24, made progress "towards high-standard outcomes" in trade, clean economy and fair economy pillars. "Officials also continued discussions on next steps for the proposed IPEF Supply Chain Agreement (Pillar II) following substantial conclusion of negotiations in May and public release of the text on September 7th," their readout said.
Is it EU "institutional rigidity," as a former assistant U.S. trade representative for Europe, Dan Mullaney, says, or unrealistic asks from the U.S. government delaying a deal on trade in steel and aluminum that could end tariff rate quotas on European exports?
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