That the Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports take effect Sept. 24 gives potential litigants little time to weigh a court challenge blocking the duties if they are going to act before they become effective (see 1809170051). The extremely quick turnaround time, published in a notice that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released late on Sept. 17, bore out worries that the Trump administration would release its order imposing the tariffs soon after the comments period expired Sept. 6.
US Trade Representative (USTR)
A U.S. Cabinet level position which serves as the President's primary representative, negotiator, and spokesperson regarding U.S. trade policy. The USTR heads the Office of the United States Trade Representative which develops and coordinates U.S. policy for international trade, commodities, and direct investments, as well as overseeing trade negotiations with other countries.
Most of the former U.S. trade representatives on a panel at the Center for Strategic and International Studies agreed that a multilateral approach with China would have been better than tariffs, that the World Trade Organization could have been used to good effect, and that the Trans-Pacific Partnership would have made a difference. But Susan Schwab, who was a USTR during the George W. Bush administration, disagreed with much of that conventional wisdom. "From 2005 onward, we were seeing bad behavior and backtracking on the part of China, and we tried to get China's attention on a whole lot of issues that the current administration is talking about ... and we weren't able to get their attention. And we weren't able to get Europe and Japan to help us even though quietly Europe and Japan were talking about this.
The Consumer Technology Association “will decide our best course of action if and when the President imposes retaliatory tariffs,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro when asked if the association will sue the Trump administration to block proposed Section 301 tariffs from taking effect. The trade group filed its “objections” to the third tranche of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports in Sept. 6 comments that also questioned the duties’ legality (see 1809070025).
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Dennis Shea will lead the U.S. delegation to the G-20 Trade and Investment Ministerial meeting in Argentina Sept. 14. An announcement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that Shea "will promote President [Donald] Trump’s priorities for free, fair and reciprocal trade, particularly the need to address non-market oriented policies."
Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters on Aug. 31 that work remains to be done on a trade deal with the U.S. "We're looking for a good deal, not just any deal," she said. "We will only agree to a deal that is a good deal for Canada. We're not there yet." The U.S. had planned to notify Congress of a deal with Mexico on Aug. 31 and hopes to include Canada (see 1808280033).
The agreement between the U.S. and Mexico (see 1808270032) contains several changes related to customs processing as part of the market access chapter, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a fact sheet about the deal. Among those are "new provisions for transparency in import licensing and export licensing procedures," the USTR said. The deal would also prohibit requiring "local distributors for importation" and applying import restrictions on used goods for remanufacturing. "Provisions for duty-free temporary admission of goods to cover shipping containers or other substantial holders used in the shipment of goods" would also be updated, the USTR said.
Senators and House members from both parties reacted to the outline of a bilateral deal between Mexico and the U.S. with a variety of views, ranging from celebration to skepticism. The deal aims to steer more auto manufacturing to the U.S. -- and maybe to Canada, if that country comes on board (see 1808270032).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is forming a U.S.-Kenya Trade and Investment Working Group, with the aim of deepening the trade relationship between the two countries. Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Industry, Trade and Cooperatives Peter Munya said that although Kenya has increased its exports to the U.S. through the African Growth and Opportunity Act, "its utilization has been suboptimal. Through implementation of the recently launched National AGOA strategy and action plan, Kenya seeks greater US support in order to optimize available opportunities in the remaining seven years of AGOA." According to USTR, there's $1 billion of trade annually between Kenya and the U.S., and more than 70 percent of Kenyan exports to the U.S. are covered by AGOA preferences.
The U.S. and Mexico agreed to a major step forward in talks to renew the trade relationship between the countries in NAFTA, the White House announced on Aug. 27. Canada remains on the outside of the deal but that country will begin similar discussions with the U.S. as soon as Aug. 27, a senior administration official said during a call with reporters. The U.S. and Mexico will use an "alternative" sunset provision to allow for more frequent reviews of the deal, another official on the call said.
CBP's 'Hands Tied,' So NAFTZ Engaging USTR on Section 301 Tariffs for Some US FTZ-Manufactured Goods
National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones President Erik Autor is set to meet with officials at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in the coming weeks to discuss a quirk in foreign-trade zone filing requirements that’s resulting in the unfair application of Section 301 duties, he said in an Aug. 21 interview. Autor seeks to educate USTR on how tariffs apply to FTZ goods, in the hopes that the agency will amend Section 301 implementation language related to zones that CBP says leaves it with no choice but to sometimes collect the tariffs on inputs that sometimes aren’t even Chinese.