The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, ahead of the first USMCA Labor Council meeting June 29, is inviting the public to suggest topics to discuss at the meeting, or questions for U.S., Mexican or Canadian participants. Comments are due June 22, and can be sent to Brenna Dougan with the subject line USMCA Labor Council Meeting at USMCA.labor@ustr.eop.gov, or to Samantha Tate, division chief for USMCA Monitoring and Enforcement, Office of Trade and Labor Affairs at the Labor Department, ILAB-Outreach@DOL.gov.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told union members that steelworkers have faced unfair competition due to overcapacity, and that she'll be talking to her counterparts in Europe next week about how to create "new standards to combat the harmful industrial policies of China and other countries that undermine our ability to compete."
Top trade officials from Europe, Japan and North America emphasized problematic economic behavior in China, without mentioning the world's second-largest economy by name, at the end of the G-7 meeting of trade ministers.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted a list of frequently asked questions on what the USTR doesn't do related to its Section 301 investigations. In issuing fraud alert information, the agency said it doesn't “collect money from the public” and while it may contact individuals as part of an investigation, USTR won't “demand immediate payment.” Other red flags include contact through text message or social media and the use of email addresses not from a government agency, it said. The agency didn't respond to a request for comment.
Few details were released by either side about the May 26 virtual meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He. Their “introductory” caucus featured a “candid exchange” about the Biden-Harris administration’s “worker-centered” trade policy and Tai’s “ongoing review of the U.S.-China trade relationship, while also raising issues of concern,” a USTR readout said. The U.S. and China "engaged in candid, pragmatic and constructive communication with an attitude of equality and mutual respect,” a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said May 27 at a press conference. “Believing that bilateral trade is of great significance, the two sides exchanged views on issues of common concern, and agreed to keep in contact,” he said. Tai’s agency is running a “top-to-bottom review” of U.S. trade and economic policy toward China, including the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, with no “timeline” for its completion, she told a House Ways and Means Committee hearing last week (see 2105130060).
In a joint statement, Canada's trade minister, Mexico's economy minister and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said they reviewed USMCA committee work, noting progress and offering “recommendations for future work to maintain progress.”
The day before the first USMCA Free Trade Commission meeting, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Canada's trade minister, Mary Ng, talked about how to strengthen North American supply chains, combat forced labor and climate change, and reform the World Trade Organization.
Dairy trade groups complained to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that consultations have gone on long enough, and said it's time to open a formal dispute with Canada over its implementation of tariff rate quotas for dairy products. “America’s dairy farmers appreciated USTR initiating consultations with Canada on its dairy TRQ allocation measures and the decision to hold USMCA Free Trade Commission discussions to pursue reforms,” National Milk Producers Federation CEO Jim Mulhern said in a May 16 news release. “But Canada has always been obstinate on dairy, and at this stage it is increasingly clear that further action is needed to ensure a fair and transparent enforcement of USMCA.” The 68 trade groups said the dispute must begin because the next TRQ year begins July 1, but a dispute panel would take longer than that to rule.
Former Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiator Wendy Cutler told an audience for an Atlantic Council webinar that the U.S. cannot rejoin even a renegotiated TPP in the next two years, and maybe not during the next four. Cutler, a vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said that the administration should try to ink mini-deals with TPP countries on digital trade, like it did with Japan, and said that maybe there can be coordination on supply chains or climate and trade. Cutler was also chief negotiator on the Korea free trade agreement.
Ahead of the first Environmental Committee meeting under USMCA, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments on topics that should be discussed, and advance questions for the public session of that meeting. The committee meeting will be June 17, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT.