Thompson Hine trade attorney Dan Ujczo expects the only activity on trade in the first eight months of Joe Biden's presidency will be on issues either so small that they don't make a splash -- such as the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill and the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program -- or on issues that have an immediate need for action.

Bob Zoellick, a U.S. trade representative during the George W. Bush administrations, said that a successful way of completing a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom would be to connect the North American agenda to the U.K. “It gives you more weight,” he said during a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace webinar Feb. 17. “It helps you with North American integration.” He suggested that the FTA could look at carbon emissions, as well as labor, and he believes it could get bipartisan support for extending trade promotion authority, so it could get done.

A United Kingdom trade law panel established to navigate post-Brexit trade law complications officially began its work Feb. 1 and will run for a four-year period with no extension opportunities. Panelists from 18 law firms will advise on all stages of international trade disputes, sorting through World Trade Organization compliance questions and providing legal advice on trade agreement implementation.

President Joe Biden spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping for two hours, underscoring “his fundamental concerns about Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices,” as well as human rights abuses in Xinjiang, according to a White House readout of the Feb. 10 call. In comments to reporters Feb. 11, he said it was a “good conversation.”

President Donald Trump didn't get China to agree to much in the way of structural changes, panelists said, but Asia Society Policy Institute Vice President Wendy Cutler said he put China front and center on the agenda, which was good. “He was really willing to take on the business community when it came to China,” she said. Cutler, who worked at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for more than 25 years, said that when she was at USTR, one of her frustrations in trying to negotiate with China was that U.S. “companies were pretty conflicted. They liked the … money they were making. They wanted us to be quote, unquote tough with China, but they didn’t want to be part of the get-tough strategy. Our hands were tied in a way.”

Ambassadors from the United Kingdom, Brazil, the European Union and Australia discussed on a Feb. 8 panel how to improve trading relationships with the U.S. and deal with the challenge China poses to the international trading system but had no insights into how to make breakthroughs on either.

A European Commission executive told webinar listeners that while politicians in the West are viewing trade differently, remaining open to free trade is vital for the European Union's prosperity. Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, spoke Feb. 4 at the World Trade Symposium hosted by The Economist. “We have retired the old idea of free trade at any price,” she said. In this decade, Europe will be looking at trade through the prism of human rights, workers' rights, best recycling practices, digitalization and climate change, she said.

The Russian government in November 2020 approved a proposal to replace its tariff rate quotas on imported beef with a flat rate tariff of 27.5%, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report Feb. 1. The proposal now awaits approval by the Eurasian Economic Commission, and, if approved, would enter into effect on Jan. 1, 2022. High-quality beef would remain unaffected as it is currently not subject to quotas. The U.S. has not had market access in Russia for its beef exports since 2014 when Moscow banned U.S. agriculture and livestock exports in apparent retaliation for the U.S.'s stance on Russia's support for Ukrainian rebels (see 1412230061). Prior to 2014, U.S. beef exports operated under a 15% tariff rate, and if Russia decides to lift its ban on American beef in 2022, that rate will apply to high-quality beef, but all other beef exports would be subjected to the 27.5% flat rate.

Speakers for Navigating the New Normal, a keynote panel at a trade symposium convened by The Economist Feb. 2, discussed whether the political pressure to bring supply chains closer to home will overcome the fact that Vietnam's and China's economies weathered the pandemic better than Europe, with no conclusion, but also talked about what the future of the “special relationship” between the U.S. and the United Kingdom will be in trade.

The Wisconsin Farmers Union is calling on the Biden administration to drop the U.S.'s first USMCA dispute -- a case on Canadian tariff rate quotas -- the group announced in a blog post. WFU said that the demands of the largest dairy companies to tackle Canada's supply management policies on dairy products shouldn't come before needs of small farmers and fair market prices.