The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's proposal to tariff up to $11 billion worth of goods from the EU as part of a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies (see 1904090031) adds some new tension to an already fraught trade relationship. Although the trade dispute resolution that the U.S. is asking for pertains to large commercial airplanes, it goes far beyond aerospace, hitting cheeses and other food, wine, clothing and building materials. “This case has been in litigation for 14 years, and the time has come for action. The Administration is preparing to respond immediately when the WTO issues its finding on the value of U.S. countermeasures,” USTR Robert Lighthizer said in a news release.
Peru has decided to maintain the independence of the agency that monitors logging, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced April 9, as that office heralded the success of its environmental consultations (see 1901070023). House Democrats had been concerned that Peru was undermining the agency by moving it into the environment ministry (see 1812190033), and USTR quickly asked for consultations. “We are pleased with Peru’s decision to retain OSINFOR as an independent and separate agency, as required by our bilateral agreement,” USTR Robert Lighthizer said in a statement announcing the change. “This shows that strong enforcement works. I am committed to using enforcement tools to ensure that our trade agreements protect the environment and advance the interests of U.S. workers and businesses.”
The European Union and the U.S. have not formally begun the trade talks first agreed to last July, as the 28-member bloc still does not have a mandate to negotiate. Given that, many observers are doubtful negotiations could make substantial progress this year.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, when asked about the possibility of increased Canadian retaliatory tariffs (see 1903290047) during a conference call with reporters April 9, said he doesn't blame Canada for its coming decision. "Our president is at fault for not taking the tariffs off," he said. He quipped, "They shouldn't put them on any Iowa products because I'm one of their best friends in the United States Senate saying we ought to take those [metals] tariffs off." He said he has been telling the White House for four months that the tariffs on Canada and Mexico have to be lifted before implementing legislation for the new NAFTA arrives on the Hill (see 1902120032). "I don't intend to give up," he said.
Randy Howe, CBP executive director for operations in the Office of Field Operations, testified April 9 that a typical wait exactly a year ago at the El Paso Port of Entry in Texas was 15 minutes for cargo trucks. "Yesterday, wait times were as long as 250 minutes," he said -- more than four hours. "At the end of the day, 63 trucks were not processed."
House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., who voted against NAFTA the first time around, told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer "this time needs to be different." Neal, who released a letter he sent to the USTR on April 9, said that persistently low wages in Mexico led to more U.S. manufacturing jobs being moved there, just as he'd seen factories close in New England in the 1970s and 1980s to move to lower wage states and countries.
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, who defeated a nine-term Republican incumbent last fall, is clear that NAFTA has benefited her district in the Houston area and the whole state of Texas. But Fletcher, who has been chosen as a co-chair of the trade task force in the New Democrats caucus, said she's not being urged by constituents to get NAFTA's replacement ratified as soon as possible.
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, has joined with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to propose that U.S. and Mexican officials inspect Mexican factories suspected of violating labor standards. Wyden's staff said that if that violation was verified, the U.S. would not give its products duty-free entry, and if there was forced labor, it could block imports from those factories entirely.
President Donald Trump denied he said Mexico has a year to improve drug interdiction (see 1904040030), but, for the second day in a row, he suggested Mexico is improving its control of migration, so he won't need to close the border soon. "I don't think we'll ever have to close the border because the penalty of tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Mexico at 25 percent will be massive," Trump told White House reporters a few hours after he made the one-year remark, on April 4.
President Donald Trump said he won't schedule a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping until the two sides have agreed on ways to resolve U.S. complaints about China's industrial policies and market access, but said they have already "agreed to far more than we have left to agree to."