The European Commission and Beijing are still searching for a way to avoid upcoming EU countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles, the commission said, even after EU member states voted to approve the measures earlier this month (see 2410040013).
New Zealand last week launched mandatory negotiations with Canada under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to challenge Canada’s dairy tariff rate quotas, saying they are unfairly restricting New Zealand exporters. The country said a panel of arbitrators ruled in favor of New Zealand in September 2023, finding Canada breached its CPTPP obligations “by blocking New Zealand dairy access.” Since then, Canada “failed to comply with the ruling,” New Zealand said.
Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Bárcena said that she has been told that the U.S. will not comply with the panel ruling that said that rollup was understood to be part of the automotive rule of origin (see 2403070067), and she said that is undermining USMCA. She said that's because both the Republicans and the Democrats are fighting for the political support of the United Autoworkers and Teamsters. (The autoworkers' union characterizes rollup as watering down the requirement for North American content in vehicles).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that negotiators from its office and those from Kenya had a productive round of talks Sept. 16-30, with discussion of text covering "administrative matters; agriculture; customs, trade facilitation, and enforcement; environment; good regulatory practices; inclusivity; and workers’ rights and protections."
The U.K. and Thailand officially signed a new trade partnership last week that will boost British exports, the U.K.’s Department for Business and Trade said. The “Enhanced Trade Partnership” will help British businesses more easily sell to Thailand, the U.K. said, and commits both sides to “identifying opportunities that could be delivered” through a possible future U.K.-Thailand Free Trade Agreement. The U.K. noted that Thailand also recently agreed to accept the U.K.’s vehicle emissions testing standards, which will allow the British auto industry to “save millions” on car exports to Thailand.
The EU’s ongoing countervailing duty probe into Chinese electric vehicles (see 2408200020) has brought the two sides’ industries to a “crossroads,” and Beijing will continue to lobby against the tariffs through negotiations “until the very end,” China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said this week.
The U.K. will officially join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on Dec. 15 after securing the final ratification required to trigger the country’s accession to the trade deal (see 2312290034), the Department for Business and Trade said last week. The deal, which currently includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, is expected to remove tariffs from more than 99% of U.K. exports to CPTPP members, the country said. The U.K. needed ratification from six countries to join the deal.
A former top trade negotiator in Mexico, Juan Carlos Baker Pineda, said he doesn't think the review of the USMCA will be about fine-tuning or technical changes to the trade pact.
A new, “modernized” Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement took effect July 1 that maintains the preferential market access outlined in the two countries' original deal from 2017 while adding new language to further “enhance trade” and incorporate provisions on labor, the environment and more, Canada said this week. “The modernized CUFTA will enhance trade, increase economic cooperation” and “signals Canada’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s long-term security, stability and economic recovery following Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country,” Canada said. Mary Ng, Canada’s trade minister, said “when the war is over, Canadian businesses and exporters will be ready to help rebuild the Ukraine of tomorrow.”
The gaps in trade policies between the U.S. and Europe, despite their agreement on the problems, and the difficulty of improving trade relations with major developing countries were grappled with this week by a panel of experts from the U.S. and Europe.