U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai testified April 16 before the House Ways and Means Committee regarding the Biden administration’s trade policy agenda for 2024. She expressed support for upcoming legislation to renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and to close the de minimis imports loophole (see 2404160029), and she detailed some of the administration’s values and aims for the upcoming year. “Our approach is one that addresses and advances the interests of all parts of our economy and does not pit Americans against Americans,” she said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seeks more comments on how USMCA rules of origin are affecting trade in automotive goods, as it compiles an annual report it will send to Congress by July 2025. USTR will hold a hearing on its investigation on Oct. 8, with requests to appear due Sept. 24 and prehearing briefs due Sept. 26. Post hearing briefs are due Oct. 16, and all other written submissions are due Nov. 18, USTR said. Automakers and their suppliers told USTR in comments on the agency’s 2024 report on the same issue that not having a form for certificate of origin has made compliance more difficult, among other things (see 2402050048).
Ahead of congressional hearings featuring U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior vice president said on an April 15 press call that his organization is concerned about the “laissez faire” approach he said the Biden administration has been taking in negotiating against foreign trade barriers and enforcing existing U.S. trade agreements.
A new bill from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Republican and a Democratic member would renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act trade preference program for 16 years, offer more flexibility on country eligibility reviews, and soften the high-income graduation rules.
Five members of House Ways and Means Committee and the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific introduced a bill that would set up an ‘‘Indo-Pacific Trade Strategy Commission’’ to make recommendations to Congress on a comprehensive trade policy in the region, and direct the International Trade Commission to produce a report on how the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade agreement and China's Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership multilateral free trade agreement affect U.S. exports and growth opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. The report also would address differences between the TPP successor, RCEP, and the USMCA, and the impact of Asian regional trade agreements on U.S. supply chain resiliency, and how they affect China's role in key global supply chains.
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DHS announced that more companies in what it called "the high-priority textile sector" should be added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's Entity List, joining the 10 already on that list -- just one item in what it's calling "a new comprehensive enforcement action plan" for textiles.
The U.S. is asking Mexico to address alleged labor violations at Minera Tizapa, a Zacazonapan zinc mine owned by Industrias Penoles. Exports from the mine will have liquidation suspended until a remediation plan is approved.
The U.S. is asking Mexico to address its allegation that the Servicios Industriales González facility in Nuevo Leon fired some workers for union activity; threatened the independent union Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Ramo de Transporte en General, La Construcción y sus Servicios (SNTTYC); and allowed Federacion Nacional de Sindicatos Independientes (FNSI) access to the workplace. Despite its name, FNSI is not an independent union, but rather is part of the labor union structure dating back to the early 20th century, which the U.S. says was in league with employers, not members, and led to wage suppression.
PHILADELPHIA -- Troy Miller, acting CBP commissioner, said that since stakeholders have said they're concerned that de minimis and trade cheating in USMCA and the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement is damaging the domestic and Latin American textile and apparel industries, the department will release a comprehensive plan to intensify enforcement soon.