U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expects Canada's Parliament to continue progress on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in the fall following October elections, he said in recently posted written responses to House Ways and Means Committee members following a June 19 hearing (see 1906190062). "The Trudeau government has begun necessary steps to ratify the USMCA in its Parliament and has stated that it plans to move forward on implementation in tandem with the United States," he said. "The Canadian Parliament has adjourned for the summer and is not expected to return before federal elections are held on October 21, 2019. We anticipate that Canada will take up the legislation once a new government is seated later this fall, and we are confident that the Parliament will vote in favor of the Agreement."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 12-16 in case they were missed.
The Government Accountability Office found that e-cigarette devices brought in $71.5 million in tariff revenues from 2016 to 2018, while parts for the vaping industry were responsible for $41.6 million in tariffs. The liquid for e-cigarettes is imported at lower volumes, and accounted for $7.4 million in tariffs during the two-year period.
The American Apparel and Footwear Association complained about the tenor of news coverage about Section 301 tariff delays, noting that 77 percent of apparel and textiles will face an additional 10 percent tariff on Sept. 1, not the later December date.
Though Walmart expects to finish 2019 toward the “upper end” of its previous guidance of between 2.5 percent and 3 percent same-store sales growth, it’s slightly scaling back full-year expectations on consolidated net sales growth, it said in a fiscal Q2 report Aug. 15. It was the first bellwether of possible retail impact from the 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariffs taking effect Sept. 1, and again Dec. 15, on Chinese goods.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted to its website Aug. 14 its upcoming notice in the Federal Register detailing new Section 301 tariffs on a fourth list of $300 billion in Chinese imports (see 1908130033). According to the notice, beginning on Sept. 1, goods included in the first group of the list must be filed under subheading 9903.88.15. Then, effective Dec. 15, tariffs take effect on a second list of goods under subheading 9903.88.16.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 5-9 in case they were missed.
Ten comments documents filed by trade groups and companies that would be affected by a digital services tax imposed in France -- as well as one filing by a European think tank -- describe the problems with the tax and the discriminatory intent against U.S. companies. But three of the groups, and one company, told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that tariffs on French imports under Section 301 are not the way to fix the problem, while only two individuals called for tariffs as a way to get France to roll back the law.
Of the 140 Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings that the Consumer Technology Association urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in its June 17 comments to remove from List 4 Section 301 tariff exposure, the association won 37 deferrals to Dec. 15 in key product areas like smartphones, laptops and tablets and PC monitors when the final lists were released Aug. 13 (see 1908130033). The remaining subheadings face 10 percent tariff exposure when the duties on the newly configured List 4A take effect Sept. 1.
President Donald Trump said he delayed the imposition of 10 percent Section 301 tariffs on hundreds of Chinese products "for Christmas season, just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers, which, so far, they've had virtually none. The only impact has been that we've collected almost $60 billion from China -- compliments of China."