Mara Lee

Rep. Vern Buchanan, the Florida Republican who's ranking member of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, is co-sponsoring a bill that would impose sanctions on companies that make and send fentanyl to the U.S. Buchanan, joined by Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., introduced the bill April 10. The bill, H.R. 2226, notes that the Treasury Department used the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act to sanction a synthetic opioid trafficker in April 2018, but says "precision economic and financial sanctions policy tools are needed to address the flow of synthetic opioids." The bill is a companion to a bipartisan Senate bill introduced earlier in the month by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. (see 1904040028). It would require the administration to publicly identify the companies that are selling fentanyl to dealers, bar imports of any kind from those companies, freeze their assets, deny visas to its officials and cut them off from the U.S. banking system. Congress would dedicate $600 million for investigations to uncover which companies are responsible.

Canada and Colombia were removed from the priority watch list for intellectual property violations, and Tajikistan moved off the watch list, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's annual review of countries' policies on patents, trade secrets, counterfeits and piracy. Saudi Arabia was moved up to the priority watch list because of deteriorating conditions there, including "rampant satellite and online piracy," a USTR official said April 25.

Clete Willems, former deputy director of the National Economic Council who represented the U.S. during China trade talks this year, will join Akin Gump as a partner in June, the firm announced April 25. “The trade landscape has rarely been as important to companies around the world as it is now, and Clete will be an invaluable resource for clients seeking to navigate this terrain,” said Brian Pomper, co-head of Akin Gump’s public law and policy practice.

Dozens of agriculture trade groups and companies wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to tell him that "the U.S. food and agriculture industry is increasingly disadvantaged by competing regional and bilateral agreements with Japan that have already been implemented, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EU-Japan EPA)."

Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Barcena, speaking April 22 at the Georgetown Law School conference on U.S. ratification of the new NAFTA, implored: "We need USMCA not to be taken as a political hostage. We need USMCA to be taken in its own merits." She also said, "We should not let politics stand in the way of free trade that has yielded benefits for both of our societies."

The International Trade Commission estimated that by the sixth year after the new NAFTA's ratification, the U.S. economy would have 176,000 more jobs than it would have without the new revised trade deal. That's a 0.12 percent increase compared to the status quo.

The executive director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's U.S.-UK Business Council, said that even a customs union would be more complicated for U.S. exporters than the status quo. Marjorie Chorlins was speaking with reporters on a conference call April 17. "The amendment proposing a customs union came very close to passing," she said, in response to a question from Export Compliance Daily. But exactly what would be included in the customs union could vary -- it does in Norway and Turkey, she said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that beginning May 2, those who had property seized by the Cuban government after the Communist revolution can sue foreign companies "trafficking in property that was confiscated by the Cuban regime. Any person or company doing business in Cuba should heed this announcement," he said April 17. The right to sue foreign companies had been suspended for more than 20 years, and European diplomats warned Pompeo ahead of the announcement "the extraterritorial application of unilateral restrictive measures, such as the LIBERTAD Act, is contrary to international law." Trade Minister Cecilia Malmstrom said that if he went through with the plan to allow these lawsuits, the EU may launch a World Trade Organization case, and would allow EU companies to file counterclaims in EU courts against Americans bringing suit.

The U.S.-Egypt Trade and Investment Council discussed the need for Egyptian labor reforms, and the U.S.'s desire that Egypt improve intellectual property protection, implement the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement and that Egypt strengthen its border enforcement. The readout of the meeting, provided by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative late April 12, said the two countries are looking to promote greater reciprocal market access for agricultural and industrial goods. "In this vein, the United States and Egypt are collaborating on the development of scientific, risk-based food safety practices consistent with international guidelines of the Codex Alimentarius Commission," USTR said. The U.S. praised Egypt for relaxing domestic ownership requirements for express shipping companies and Egypt's decision to accept U.S. motor vehicle safety standards. Between the Generalized System of Preferences and Qualifying Industrial Zones programs, about $1 billion of Egyptian exports to the U.S. enter duty free, USTR said.

The European Council approved a negotiating mandate for trade talks with the U.S., but says it will not finish a free-trade agreement until the steel and aluminum tariffs on its member countries are lifted. The mandate, which was approved April 15, excludes agricultural trade from the talks.