President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will touch on some trade issues during a planned meeting in California on Nov. 15, but the two leaders won’t delve into specifics, a senior administration official said during a call with reporters last week. The two sides aren’t expecting a “long list of outcomes or deliverables” to result from the meeting, the official said. “The goals here really are about managing the competition, preventing the downside risk of conflict and ensuring channels of communication are open."

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Twenty of Florida's 28 representatives, led by Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Republican Mario Díaz-Balart, are calling on the House Ways and Means Committee to reinstate the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, which expired almost three years ago.

President Joe Biden isn’t planning to bring up issues surrounding Section 301 tariffs in a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California on Nov. 15, a senior administration official said during a call with reporters last week. The official said the “question of economic and trade relationship” will be discussed, but the two leaders likely won’t delve into specifics.

Eliminating permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with China would “leave a lasting scar” on the U.S. economy, costing each U.S. household $11,000 in real income over the period 2024 to 2028 and reducing competition and efficiency over the long term, according to a report released by the U.S.-China Business Council on Nov. 9.

The New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of pro-free trade Democrats, publicly released a letter to the president asking him to change course on trade, and work on traditional free trade agreements that lower tariffs and go through congressional approval. President Joe Biden has declined to work on any trade-liberalizing FTAs, saying that deals that can be negotiated more quickly that address supply chains, trade facilitation and other non-tariff barriers are more fit for today's challenges.

The chairman and top Democrat on the House Select Committee on China asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to consider launching a new Section 301 investigation for autos, in order to examine the harm that China's subsidization and technology transfer practices could do if Chinese electric vehicles start entering the U.S. in large numbers.

The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

The Court of International Trade granted importer Time After Time Manufacturing's motion to dismiss its own customs case concerning its entries of plant carts. The importer filed the case in September, arguing that its plant carts of Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9403.20.0050, free of duty, and secondary subheading 9903.88.03, subject to 25% Section 301 duties, qualify for subheadings 9817.00.5000 and 9403.20.0050, both free of duty (Time After Time Manufacturing v. U.S., CIT # 23-00203).

NEW YORK -- Apparel industry lobbyist David Spooner, speaking at the U.S. Fashion Industry Association annual conference, said employees of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have indicated to him that the office "might actually sunset some of the tariffs," and that importers will be able to apply for a new product exclusion. "Hopefully this is the case," he added.