In six days, a huge swath of imports from China are supposed to have 15 percentage points added to their tariff rates. But with no Federal Register notice yet, CBP cannot implement it. Three days ago, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that notice would be published "as soon as possible," and the media relations office did not respond to inquiries on Aug. 26 about when it might come. "Our customs men and women are scrambling after a tweet like this to figure out what is policy, how do you advise clients, what do you tell them what the costs are going to be?" said Phil Levy, chief economist for Flexport, a freight forwarder. Because of how Trump phrased the tweet, Flexport employees weren't even sure if the Dec. 15 deadline was still true.
LIz Truss, the secretary of state for international trade in the United Kingdom, said her country is looking forward to "leaving the straitjacket of the EU," and said that a free trade agreement with the U.S. "is the inevitable next step." Truss, who met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during her visit to Washington, said they're trying to "get things moving."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, raised the possibility that he would not be able to broker a compromise between the two approaches on restraining the president's ability to levy tariffs under Section 232. While he said his goal is to have a committee meeting in late September or early October that would take up a "Grassley-Wyden" version, he said if that can't happen, he will bring forward competing bills and allow lots of amendments to shape them.
The majority of companies and a trade group representing metal fabricators oppose the inclusion of brass and other copper alloys on the Airbus retaliation list, but two firms said Germany's dominance in the field is unfair and should be countered. Sixteen players in the metals industry, 14 in the U.S. and two from Europe, testified Aug. 5 at a hearing considering what items should be put on the retaliation list for Europe's subsidies of Airbus launches. The World Trade Organization has ruled that the European Union has not complied with rulings on the subsidies, and that the U.S. is entitled to rebalancing tariffs, but an arbitrator has not yet said how large the tariff action can be (see 1904090031).
Although 10 of the 27 members of the Senate Finance Committee asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to leave de minimis where it is -- including the chairman and ranking member -- the USTR has remained non-committal on whether the implementing bill will change U.S. law for the NAFTA region. As Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., put it in a brief hallway interview at the Capitol before the Senate recessed on Aug. 2, "He hasn’t said one way or the other on that."
The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said that while U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer may say he's consulting with the Finance Committee on changing de minimis levels for Canada and Mexico in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, "he hasn't consulted with me." Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was responding to a question from International Trade Today about how the committee could get past the impasse where members repeatedly tell USTR they want de minimis to stay as it is, and he says his staff are consulting with Congress before making a decision.
The Food and Drug Administration is going to create guidance for manufacturers who seek to import prescription drugs that usually go to foreign markets, but are not currently able to do so because their distribution contracts for U.S. drugs are locked in at higher prices. This is one of two "pathways" on drug importation announced by the Department of Health and Human Services July 31.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said there's no need for more money for Section 301 exclusion adjudicators, but will assess whether additional funding is necessary as the process continues. He also said "USTR is reviewing various courses of action with respect to whether and how to renew the exclusions granted for Lists 1 and 2" in a newly released written response to one of the chairman's questions stemming from his testimony in June before the Senate Finance Committee.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who led a trip to Mexico with nine other House members last week, said that everyone came away impressed with Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Blumenauer said that in his opinion, the entire Mexican Cabinet is clearly committed to changing labor laws in Mexico so that its workers can be better paid. "Lots of money was made [from NAFTA], but workers in the United States, workers in Mexico, are no better off in inflation-adjusted terms," he said.
Several leaders of the New Democrat Coalition met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer late July 25, and told him that they want him to treat negotiations with the working group on the new NAFTA with a sense of urgency. "Congress members are starting to say, 'Let's get down to brass tacks and figure out how specifically these issues can be addressed," said Rep. Derek Kilmer, chairman of the New Democrats. Kilmer, D-Wash., who described the meeting in a short hallway interview after it concluded, said Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., also met with Lighthizer.