Turkey, which exported about $1.66 billion in goods duty free through the Generalized System of Preferences last year, may be barred from the program after a review at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The value of Turkish imports that come in duty free through GSP has increased by nearly 50 percent in five years, according to USTR data.
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
Arms export restrictions were published Aug. 3 for South Sudan, in a rulemaking from the Bureau of Industry and Security following State Department action in February 2018 (see 1802160036). The country was put on the arms embargo list because of the civil war in South Sudan, which is causing a humanitarian crisis, the U.S. says. Arms slated for United Nations or African Union peacekeeping missions are exempted.
In a series of tweets before a campaign rally in suburban Columbus, Ohio, and again on Aug. 5, President Donald Trump said tariffs "are working big time," and "foolish people scream" when his government imposes them. He said because of tariffs, America is winning, and China is "doing poorly against us" for the first time, and other countries' economies are hurting, too. Trump's preferred metric, the trade deficit, is still growing, through June and is up 7 percent compared to the first half of 2017. He said China is spending a fortune trying to convince "our politicians to fight me on tariffs."
Top trade officials from the U.S. and Colombia talked about digital trade and telecommunications, services, agricultural matters, intellectual property, textiles and apparel, and truck scrappage as they evaluated implementation and best use of the bilateral U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, first signed six years ago. "Officials also agreed to continue to work together to ensure effective implementation of, and compliance with, the trade in goods and services, customs, intellectual property rights, labor, and environment obligations of the Agreement," according to an Aug. 2 press release from the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The U.S. said progress has been made on Colombia's labor issues identified in a 2017 report, but work remains (see 1701120006).
The Commerce Department sharply raised countervailing duties against the Resolute Company's exports of Canadian uncoated groundwood paper, and lowered both the antidumping and countervailing duties against Catalyst, while leaving other companies' CVD rates largely unchanged.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, whose chairman is Donald Trump ally Dan DiMicco, said the president should consider vetoing the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, the group said in a news release. The Senate unanimously last month (see 1807270003) and passed the House of Representatives 402-0 before that (see 1801170012). The MTB "has flown beneath the radar and is a holdover from the past," said DiMicco, who was a trade adviser to Trump during his presidential campaign, and is a former CEO of steel producer Nucor. "At precisely the moment when the president is tackling foreign trade cheating and trying to create leverage, Congress is again engaging in unilateral trade disarmament. This bill fails to consider that many of the products included could be manufactured in the US.”
The negotiating parties are close to agreement on an environment chapter in NAFTA, Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said after a negotiation session in Washington on Aug. 2. The Mexican team met again with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer for almost two hours Aug. 3, and Guajardo told reporters there's a very good probability the two sides can resolve key issues next week, Reuters reported.
Mexico's economy minister is meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Aug. 2, and analysts watching the renewed momentum between Mexico and the U.S. in NAFTA discussions see competing pressures on negotiators. On one side is the need to show results for its tariff hikes, on the other is a deep skepticism of trade deals, the observers said. A source close to the negotiations said Mexico and the U.S. are getting closer on reaching a deal on auto rules of origin -- and that Mexico appreciates the other areas where the U.S. is showing more flexibility.
Two Republicans and one Democrat introduced a bill in the Senate Aug. 1 that would stop a Section 232 tariff if majorities in both chambers don't want the tariff. Sen. Rob Portman, a former U.S. trade representative, is the author of the bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala. Portman had been working for weeks to sign up co-sponsors (see 1807130019).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has been directed to consider levying a 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, according to senior administration officials who spoke with reporters Aug. 1. Because of the potential change in policy, parties will have an extension on filing requests to appear at the Aug. 20 hearing -- they now have until Aug. 13 -- and the comment period will be extended six days, to Sept. 5. "Obviously no final decision has been made" on the tariff rate, an official said. The USTR previously proposed a 10 percent tariff on the goods (see 1807110050).