2020 Trade Agenda Emphasizes 2019 Victories
The annual U.S. Trade Agenda puts more emphasis on heralding past “America First” victories than setting up this year's agenda, but there are tidbits throughout the more-than-300-page report that give hints to what might come in trade. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it “is hopeful that [the U.S.] can make more progress in the coming year than has been possible in prior years” in trade negotiations with the European Union.
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On a China phase two deal, the report was brief, saying that key issues on the table “will include overcapacity, subsidization, disciplines on China's state-owned enterprises, and cyber theft.”
The agenda suggested more restrictions and ejections could be coming for Generalized System of Preferences program beneficiary countries. The report said: “The Trump Administration has concerns that some countries have taken advantage of the program’s non-reciprocal nature and benefited from certain duty-free exports to the United States without sufficient oversight by USTR into the country’s conditions for GSP eligibility. Therefore, as described below, the Trump Administration is focused on reviewing both individual beneficiary countries’ ongoing eligibility in particular, in addition to the GSP program as a whole.
“The heightened focus on enforcement [of eligibility criteria] provides a valuable trade policy tool to improve compliance with GSP criteria and assist the United States in reaching trade policy goals to benefit U.S. producers, farmers, ranchers, and workers.”
Imports under GSP are less than 1% of all imports. The top GSP-covered imports during 2019 were gold necklaces, travel and sports bags, plastic sheeting handbags, rubber gloves, and leather handbags. Thailand was top, and India fell to No. 2, as it lost eligibility partway through the year. Indonesia, Brazil and the Philippines rounded out the top five. Total imports of all products from GSP beneficiary countries fell 1.3% from 2018 to 2019.
The report also tracked global trade data. The trade deficit decreased by $10.9 billion, or 1.7%, the first decline since 2013, it said. Goods imports dropped $42.6 billion, and manufactured goods imports -- 86 percent of all goods imports -- fell by $22.8 billion. The categories that fell the most were industrial supplies and capital goods. Consumer goods imports rose by $7.1 billion. Imports from China fell by $88.5 billion, and rose from Mexico, Canada and Japan, where they were up $12 billion, $0.9 billion, and $1.2 billion, respectively.