In a brief round of questions before boarding a helicopter March 20, President Donald Trump said the Commerce Department's Section 232 report on auto imports had no recommendation. It's possible he misunderstood the question and instead was describing his own position, which is yet to be determined. "It's up for review, and the European Union has been very tough on the United States for many years but nobody talked about it. And so we're looking at something to combat it," he told reporters. When a second reporter asked him if he was leaning toward tariffs on European cars, he said, "We'll see whether or not they negotiate a deal. If they negotiate a deal, a fair deal, that's a different story."
A Democrat and a Republican from two major auto-manufacturing states introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would delay any tariffs on autos or auto parts until the International Trade Commission completes a study of the impact they would have on the American auto industry. The ITC would analyze the number of auto components that are not produced in the U.S., the effect that an increase in auto manufacturing costs would have on jobs, as well as the regional effects of auto plants on wages, job growth, per capita income, unemployment and education. The bill, H.R. 1710, was introduced by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., on March 13. Sewell, who said there are 40,000 autoworkers in her state, said, “This administration has overreached its Section 232 authority by claiming that cars and auto parts threaten American national security. An independent study by the ITC would ensure that U.S. trade policy takes into consideration its impacts on our American workers and consumers."
The message from both parties in Congress on the steel and aluminum tariffs has become more pointed over the last six weeks, according to a source who's involved in the push to get the new NAFTA passed. That message is: We won't ratify the new NAFTA until those quotas are gone. The source, who works for a large business organization, said the administration is realizing "you don't lift them in the morning and then vote later that day."
The U.S. Council for International Business submitted its outline for how to improve the World Trade Organization to the Senate Finance Committee, which held a March 12 hearing on the WTO (see 1903120055). "Our recommendations for modernizing the WTO should not in any way be read as questioning the business support for WTO. Instead, they are intended to highlight areas for action that would strengthen the ability of the organization to more effectively meet the demands of a changing world," the trade group wrote.
The general counsel to the U.S. trade representative said that after five trilateral meetings with the European Union and Japan, the countries have reached "general agreement" on how the World Trade Organization should address subsidies and state-owned enterprises. He said it's not just U.S. blue-collar workers who have grown dissatisfied with globalization, and pointed to the new populist government in Italy, Brexit and the Yellow Vest movement in France.
Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., said that with an approval rate of just under 6 percent for steel exclusion requests when domestic firms objected, "it really looks like somebody's finger is on the scale." In a sit-down with International Trade Today, Walorski explained how what started with complaints from 10 businesses in her district -- which is heavy with steel-consuming RV manufacturers -- has made her office the place for companies around the country to share their problems with exclusions. "We knew this is probably what was going to happen," she said of the exclusion process that favors domestic producers.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., sent a letter on March 12 formally requesting a Section 232 investigation into the national security impact of carbon pollution caused by imports, his office said in a March 12 press release. The Defense Department has already found that climate change poses immediate risks to national security, and “modes of trade and shipping, whether air, maritime, rail or auto transportation, cause carbon emissions that contribute to global warming,” said the letter, also signed by Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., and Judy Chu, D-Calif.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer heard dozens of questions about the new NAFTA and the fate of Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum from about 50 members in the New Democrats caucus, but specifics were few, even as one called it a "good, candid conversation."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 4-8 in case they were missed.
When U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was asked during his Senate Finance Committee testimony March 12 if the China trade deal might come together by the end of March, he said it remains to be determined. "Well, we’ll see ... I don’t know when something’s going to happen. Something is either going to have a good result or we’re going to have a bad result before too long," he said. "But I’m not setting a specific time frame and it’s not up to me. I’m working as hard as I can, and the president will tell me when the time is up or the Chinese will." He told Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a former USTR himself, that the Chinese are offering concessions with the goal of getting Section 301 tariffs lifted, and he said that "is under debate."