Republicans who are in the China package negotiations say that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's tweet that said that moving even a smaller Build Back Better bill would halt negotiations was not an empty threat. He had said that while Congress was away from Washington, at the beginning of the month (see 2207010039).
Although tensions over Mexico's discouragement of foreign investment in its energy sector and the perennial problem of migration are likely to be front and center, panelists at a Wilson Center Mexico Institute program previewing the Mexican president's visit to Washington said nearshoring ought to be a focus as well.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Deputy USTR Jayme White will travel to Vancouver, Canada, for meetings July 7-8 with Canada's trade minister Mary Ng and Mexico's Economy Secretary Tatiana Clouthier.
CBP wants to develop incentives for green trade, possibly by reviewing authorized economic operator programs, and said that its initial green trade strategy, published June 28, is not the limit of its aspirations. "The goal is to identify incentives that aim to reduce carbon emissions, encourage the use of eco-friendly modes of transport, and support adoption of technologies and practices with positive environmental impacts. Incentives would encourage green trade practices while avoiding negative impacts on the flow of legitimate cargo," the strategy says.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said he talked with Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi, and she has agreed to press India to reduce its pecan tariffs. Ossoff said pecan farmers have told him India's tariffs are a problem. "Responding to the needs of Georgia farmers, Sen. Ossoff raised objections to India’s high tariffs on pecans with India’s Ambassador to the U.S Taranjit Singh Sandhu in two separate engagements," Ossoff's office said in a press release.
Trade ministers meeting at the World Trade Organization in Geneva agreed to a partial solution to harmful subsidies for fishing fleets, an intellectual property waiver for Covid vaccines, and to allow sale of commodities to the World Food Program even if the product is otherwise subject to export restrictions. The countries that attended the ministerial conference also agreed to extend the moratorium on tariffs on electronic transmissions.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said that he wants to get the conference negotiations done for the China package, because the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) has "some important trade aspects."
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, after meeting with Kenya's trade minister on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization's ministerial conference, said the two countries "could develop an ambitious roadmap for enhanced cooperation and, where appropriate, explore negotiating high-standard commitments. The issues discussed include trade facilitation and customs, standards, services digital trade, environment and climate change, and agriculture."
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai talked with the 13 countries that have signed up for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework during a trip to Paris for an event at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and issued a statement that said she shared her vision for the trade pillar. Tai "explained her hope that the United States and IPEF partners that choose to join the trade pillar will seek to build high-standard, inclusive, free, and fair trade commitments and develop new and creative approaches in trade and technology policy that advance a broad set of objectives related to: labor; environment; the digital economy; agriculture; transparency and good regulatory practices; competition policy; and trade facilitation."
A top official in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that opposition to extending a moratorium on tariffs on sales of intangible goods has surfaced before, but that the e-commerce moratorium has been renewed at every World Trade Organization ministerial conference since 1998. "There are a few countries, despite benefiting from e-commerce and digital trade, who continue to resist an extension of the moratorium," she said, but most countries, including in the developing world, see the tariff-free status as important.