U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai held a video call with South Africa's Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel on March 30, during which they discussed their interest in improving the World Trade Organization. They talked about how South Africa “has benefited tremendously from its” African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) preferential treatment, and how they should find ways to enhance their trading relationship “to better serve both countries over the long-run,” according to a readout of the call.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai talked with European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager about developing a more positive and productive trade relationship with the European Union. They agreed to work together on shared objectives related to large non-market economies, such as China, and on trade policy support for climate change goals.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in her first interview since taking office, said that she's hearing from stakeholders who say the additional tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods from China damages the economy, but she's not inclined to remove them without concessions from China. “No negotiator walks away from leverage, right?” she said. “I have heard people say, ‘Please just take these tariffs off,’” Tai told The Wall Street Journal. But “yanking off tariffs,” she warned, could harm the economy unless the change is “communicated in a way so that the actors in the economy can make adjustments.”
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing spoke March 26 about the two countries' free trade agreement, and agreed to talk more on digital trade, climate and reform of the World Trade Organization.
A readout of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's call with India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal made no mention of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, where India was the largest beneficiary before it was barred over U.S. medical device and dairy exporters' complaints. The Indian government did not release a press release summarizing its view of the call. Tai's office said that they “agreed to work constructively to resolve key outstanding bilateral trade issues and to take a comprehensive look at ways to expand the trade relationship.”
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai held a video call with Peter Altmaier, Germany's federal minister for economics, and they discussed the challenge of unfair trading practices of large non-market economies, such as China. “They also discussed their strong interest in resolving the dispute related to large civil aircraft subsidies, addressing global steel and aluminum overcapacity, and cooperating on climate change,” according to the summary of the March 24 call.
U.S.Trade Representative Katherine Tai talked with Japan's Trade Minister Kajiyama Hiroshi about how they're concerned about unfair trading practices from non-market economies such as China, but did not mention that topic coming up with the South Korean trade minister. South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee and Tai talked about how the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement strengthened economic ties, and discussed World Trade Organization reform, the call summary said. The Korean press emphasized agreement on writing digital trade rules. Tai also spoke with Mexican Economy Secretary Tatiana Clouthier, and they talked about fully implementing USMCA and Mexico's labor reform. “Tai also stressed the critical importance of cooperation on climate and environmental issues, as well as reform at the World Trade Organization and the mutual benefits of robust bi-lateral agricultural trade,” a readout of the talk said. Clouthier tweeted her thanks for such a productive meeting.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai opened her first full week on the job with a series of video calls with major allies and trading partners -- Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union -- and diplomatic summaries of the calls from both sides mostly echoed each other, suggesting there was a good deal of agreement.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted an official notice of the suspension of tariffs on British imports that were targeted as part of the Airbus-Boeing subsidies dispute. The press office did not respond to an inquiry March 8 about when the tariffs on European Union goods would be lifted, which is also part of the Airbus-Boeing dispute. The United Kingdom had already lifted its tariffs on U.S. exports to encourage negotiating a settlement; the EU will begin a similar suspension at some point, but did not give an effective date.
The tariffs on British goods on the Airbus list will be lifted for four months to create space for settling the Airbus-Boeing dispute between the United Kingdom and U.S. The U.K. had already suspended its tariffs on American goods over Boeing subsidies on Jan. 1. That suspension will also last another four months. The tariffs on British imports were lifted immediately.