The Commerce Department will issue Huawei-related export licenses “very shortly,” Secretary Wilbur Ross said, adding that the agency has received more than 260 applications. “Those will be forthcoming very shortly,” Ross told Bloomberg on Nov. 3, declining to give a more specific time frame. Ross said in July that Commerce planned to release the licenses “within the next few weeks” (see 1907240030).
Notable international barriers to U.S. exports include Chinese food restrictions and inconsistent standardization laws, Brazil’s strict telecommunications requirements, Thailand’s discriminatory customs procedures and Europe’s value-added tax system, trade groups said in comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The comments, due Oct. 31, were in response to USTR’s request for input for its upcoming National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers.
A variety of export subsidies, which allowed certain industries to avoid paying sales taxes, customs duties, or reduce income tax liability have been ruled illegal by a World Trade Organization panel. The ruling was released Oct. 31. India, unless it appeals the ruling, has 90, 120 or 180 days to stop the programs at issue.
A former top Commerce and trade official said the U.S.’s recent efforts to reform export controls and foreign investment screening are some of the most consequential developments the trade industry has seen in years. “The passage of [the Export Control Reform Act] and [the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act] together represents one of the biggest changes in trade compliance probably in at least a generation,” said Chris Padilla, former undersecretary for international trade and former assistant U.S. trade representative.
The House is scheduled to mark up a bill on Oct. 29 that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank until 2029, increase the bank’s lending authority and introduces a “temporary board” in a situation where the bank lacks a quorum in the future. The bill, introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., would also rename the bank the Export Finance Agency. Among the most notable portions of the bill is a provision that would increase the bank’s lending power gradually over several years, from $145 billion in 2020 to $175 billion in 2026.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “ahead of schedule” in signing the first phase of a U.S.-China trade deal.
A former top U.S. trade official and a New Zealand ambassador were optimistic the World Trade Organization can work through issues over its dispute settlement body but warned about damaging consequences for world trade if it doesn’t.
President Donald Trump, speaking at a fracking conference in Pennsylvania, first said that Democrats don't want to put the NAFTA rewrite up for a vote, then said, "But I think they're going to put it up because everybody wants it, and I think ultimately, they're going to do the right thing."
Ten trade groups, all typically Republican allies, sent a letter to the White House and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer asking that America submit a proposal for reforming the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body, with the offer that if it were adopted, the U.S. would stop blocking appointments to that body. While the administration has been clear about its concerns on how the appeals process is conducted, it has not offered a specific solution. The Oct. 23 letter also defended the dispute settlement system at the WTO, saying, "Since the United States is the world’s largest trading nation and the second-largest exporter, it has been one of the major beneficiaries of the WTO process."
Trade experts identified many weaknesses of the World Trade Organization -- the evidentiary standard for countervailing duties: the fact that CVD in one market doesn't help the industry's economics when surplus flows to other countries; the length of time it takes to show adverse effects to domestic firms; the fact that 164 countries can't agree on trade liberalization.