Chamber Says G-20 Should Pledge No New Tariffs
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's senior vice president for international policy said that when the trade ministers for the G-20 nations meet in India later this week, they should pledge not to hike tariffs, impose new export restraints or add digital trade barriers.
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This advice may not be followed, given that the G-20 summit's host, India, just imposed a 40% export duty on onions (see 2308210052).
John Murphy wrote that the "Biden administration deserves credit for at least partly untangling trade disputes with a number of key partners. However, some of these were temporary Band-Aids, and disputes over steel and other issues threaten to re-emerge and fuel tit-for-tat tariff exchanges. We can’t let that happen."
He said that forced localization of data is an example of "creeping digital protectionism."
At the World Trade Organization, the G-20 should implement the 2017 Trade Facilitation Agreement "with a higher level of ambition," he wrote, as their own countries will benefit from lower trade costs.
"Addressing the crisis of the WTO’s dispute settlement system is also essential. If agreements can’t be enforced, are they meaningful? G20 countries should support a solution by next February’s WTO ministerial in Abu Dhabi," he said. He also suggested that they should pursue an Environmental Goods Agreement to eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers on trade in that sector. "Tariffs are especially steep on such products as solar hot water heaters, catalytic converters, and products to control air pollution and treat wastewater," he wrote.