The International Dairy Foods Association told the chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that it believes Canada is already violating the annex on tariff rate quotas in the USMCA. The dairy trade group, which sent a letter to Ambassador Gregg Doud on June 30, says that USMCA prohibits TRQs from having conditions or eligibility requirements beyond those already in the Canadian Tariff Schedule -- and that Canada is doing just that.
European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said although it's not easy managing the trade relationship with the U.S., the EU and U.S. are still talking. “We’ve resumed conversations with the U.S. some weeks ago,” he said. “We’re up for a small confidence-building deal with the United States -- we have a lot of things we agree on. We’re waiting for the timing when President [Donald] Trump has made up his mind whether he wants to have a deal or not. If he does, we’re ready.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, celebrated the switchover from NAFTA to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- coming July 1 -- but also talked about a trade irritant with Canada and one with Mexico in a conference call with reporters June 30.
The World Trade Organization arbitrator will not announce a decision on the size of retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. over Boeing subsidies until the fall, according to Reuters, citing unnamed sources. The U.S. has already imposed tariffs on European food, beverages, aircraft parts and a few other products, because a WTO arbitrator said the European Union had not come into compliance with a decision that said it gave too-large subsidies to Airbus. The decision had been expected in May or June, and EU officials were hoping that if they were granted the right to retaliate, that would convince the U.S. to negotiate a civil aviation settlement that would lift the U.S. tariffs. Instead, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is talking about adding more products to its 25% tariff list (see 2006240017).
The U.S. is considering providing relief to U.S. lobster exporters hit by Chinese retaliatory tariffs and will more closely examine whether China is meeting its seafood purchase commitments under the phase one trade deal. The White House said June 24 it may provide aid to the seafood industry for China’s “unjust retaliatory tariffs,” and President Donald Trump directed the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to submit monthly reports on Chinese seafood purchases and the value of lobster exports to China.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Aluminum Association reacted with dismay June 23 to a Bloomberg report that the U.S. could re-impose 10% tariffs on Canadian aluminum on July 1, because of an alleged surge in imports since tariffs were lifted. The U.S. trade representative told senators last week that he is in consultations with Canada on the issue.
President Donald Trump was wrongheaded for suggesting the U.S. could sever ties with China, a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said June 19, according to a press conference transcript in English. “In this era of globalization, the interests of all countries are closely intertwined,” he said. “Global industrial and supply chains are formed and developed in such ways as determined by market forces and business decisions. As such, it is unrealistic and insensible to try to sever them or wish political forces would override economic law. Such practices will not help solve America's domestic problems. Instead, they will only cause more harm to the ordinary American people.” The spokesperson sidestepped questions about whether Trump’s threats could endanger the U.S.-China phase one trade deal. “... the U.S. certainly does maintain a policy option, under various conditions, of a complete decoupling from China,” Trump tweeted June 18, the day after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Congress decoupling wasn’t a reasonable trade policy.
Any future Section 301 exclusion renewals will only last until the end of the year, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the House Ways and Means Committee as he testified June 17 about the administration's trade agenda, adding that “they will decide what happens after that.”
Importers may want to delay filing for U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement reconciliation because the USMCA currently doesn't allow for post-entry refunds of merchandise processing fees, CBP officials said during a National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones webinar on June 16. Maya Kamar, CBP director for textiles and trade agreements, said that although the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is working with Congress for a legislative fix to the issue, CBP doesn't yet have clarity on whether such a bill will pass (see 2006050034).
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, rejected a compromise position that the United Kingdom reportedly is considering -- ending its ban on U.S. hormone-treated beef and chlorinated chicken, but taxing those imports, and letting food that meets U.K. standards in without a duty. He said the British negotiators believe that this bifurcated approach will encourage U.S. producers to “change our farming practices. But it’s another way of being very protectionist,” he told reporters on a June 16 call. “Agriculture's going to be tough,” he said.