President Donald Trump has “no deadline” for striking a trade deal with China, he told reporters Tuesday during a meeting in London with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal.” The Chinese “want to make a deal now, and we’ll see whether or not the deal’s going to be right,” he said. “It’s got to be right.” A trade agreement is “dependent on one thing -- do I want to make it?” Trump said. “We’re doing very well with China right now. We can do even better with the flick of a pen.” China didn’t comment. Trump previously suggested Chinese negotiators would drag their feet in the trade talks in hopes of landing a more favorable deal under a possible Democratic administration. But the Chinese understand that “waiting out” Trump’s term “is not an option,” said Myron Brilliant, the top global relations point man at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in October (see 1910100029). Extending the U.S.-China trade war for another year past the 2020 election would be a “bad deal” for “every segment of the economy,” said David French, senior vice president-government relations at the National Retail Federation, virtually the only group to comment Tuesday on Trump's remarks. “We want and need to see a deal as soon as possible,” said French. Four rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods at 15 percent and higher “continue to hurt U.S. businesses, workers and consumers and are a substantial drag on the U.S. economy,” he said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative rightly concludes in its Trade Act Section 301 investigative report Monday (see 191202006) that France’s digital services tax (DST), enacted in July, discriminates against U.S. companies, said tech and business trade associations. USTR seeks comment by Jan. 6 in docket USTR-2019-0009 at regulations.gov on its proposal to slap up to 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on 63 subheadings of French imports worth about $2.4 billion in 2018 customs value, mainly cheese, beauty products, handbags and kitchenware. The French government didn’t comment Tuesday.

President Donald Trump has “no deadline” for striking a trade deal with China, he told reporters Tuesday during a meeting in London with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal.” The Chinese “want to make a deal now, and we’ll see whether or not the deal’s going to be right,” he said. “It’s got to be right.” A trade agreement is “dependent on one thing -- do I want to make it?” Trump said. “We’re doing very well with China right now. We can do even better with the flick of a pen.” China didn’t comment. Trump previously suggested Chinese negotiators would drag their feet in the trade talks in hopes of landing a more favorable deal under a possible Democratic administration. But the Chinese understand that “waiting out” Trump’s term “is not an option,” said Myron Brilliant, the top global relations point man at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in October (see 1910100029). Extending the U.S.-China trade war for another year past the 2020 election would be a “bad deal” for “every segment of the economy,” said David French, senior vice president-government relations at the National Retail Federation, virtually the only group to comment Tuesday on Trump's remarks. “We want and need to see a deal as soon as possible,” said French. Four rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods at 15 percent and higher “continue to hurt U.S. businesses, workers and consumers and are a substantial drag on the U.S. economy,” he said.

President Donald Trump has “no deadline” for striking a trade deal with China, he told reporters Dec. 3 during a meeting in London. “I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal,” he said. The Chinese “want to make a deal now, and we’ll see whether or not the deal’s going to be right,” he said. “It’s got to be right.” A trade agreement is “dependent on one thing -- do I want to make it?” Trump said. “We’re doing very well with China right now. We can do even better with the flick of a pen.” China didn’t immediately comment. Extending the U.S.-China trade war for another year past the 2020 election would be a “bad deal” for “every segment of the economy,” said David French, senior vice president-government relations at the National Retail Federation. “We want and need to see a deal as soon as possible,” said French. Four rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods at 15 percent and higher “continue to hurt U.S. businesses, workers and consumers and are a substantial drag on the U.S. economy,” he said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative rightly concludes in its Trade Act Section 301 investigative report Monday (see 191202006) that France’s digital services tax (DST), enacted in July, discriminates against U.S. companies, said tech and business trade associations. USTR seeks comment by Jan. 6 in docket USTR-2019-0009 at regulations.gov on its proposal to slap up to 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on 63 subheadings of French imports worth about $2.4 billion in 2018 customs value, mainly cheese, beauty products, handbags and kitchenware. The French government didn’t comment Tuesday.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative rightly concludes in its Trade Act Section 301 investigative report Monday (see 191202006) that France’s digital services tax (DST), enacted in July, discriminates against U.S. companies, said tech and business trade associations. USTR seeks comment by Jan. 6 in docket USTR-2019-0009 at regulations.gov on its proposal to slap up to 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on 63 subheadings of French imports worth about $2.4 billion in 2018 customs value, mainly cheese, beauty products, handbags and kitchenware. The French government didn’t comment Tuesday.

President Donald Trump has “no deadline” for striking a trade deal with China, he told reporters Dec. 3 during a meeting in London. “I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal,” he said. The Chinese “want to make a deal now, and we’ll see whether or not the deal’s going to be right,” he said. “It’s got to be right.” A trade agreement is “dependent on one thing -- do I want to make it?” Trump said. “We’re doing very well with China right now. We can do even better with the flick of a pen.” China didn’t immediately comment. Extending the U.S.-China trade war for another year past the 2020 election would be a “bad deal” for “every segment of the economy,” said David French, senior vice president-government relations at the National Retail Federation. “We want and need to see a deal as soon as possible,” said French. Four rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods at 15 percent and higher “continue to hurt U.S. businesses, workers and consumers and are a substantial drag on the U.S. economy,” he said.

Jasco Products didn’t conceal its anger in seeking exclusions from the 15 percent List 4A Section 301 tariffs it pays on the plastic AC outlet safety covers and seven other classifications of tech accessories it imports from China. Jasco is “being forced by its own federal government to undergo a worldwide scouting expedition” for alternative sourcing, “and is actively evaluating several dozen suppliers outside of China,” said the supplier in each of its eight exclusion requests posted Monday in the Office of U.S. Trade Representative’s public docket. Finding alternative sourcing “will take years and tens of millions of dollars along with extensive business disruption due to the time and resource commitment involved,” said Jasco. “It takes time to identify potential suppliers and perform audits to ensure that the factories meet Jasco’s rigorous standards for quality, safety, labor conditions, and environmental protections.” Even if Jasco “qualifies viable factories,” it will take “tens of millions of dollars redeveloping existing products since tools and molds cannot easily be transferred between factories in different countries,” it said. Landing U.S. regulatory approvals for the redesigned goods also will be “time consuming and costly,” it said. The Trump administration “is essentially requiring Jasco to waste tens of millions of dollars redeveloping existing products Jasco already sells with no discernable return on investment at the expense of developing new innovative products to drive future growth,” it said. Jasco’s effort to shift sourcing outside China “all presupposes that these factories have readily available capacity they are not already utilizing for their existing customers,” said the company. “These factories will need to expand their operations significantly to support the volume from Jasco and other companies working to avoid Chinese tariffs which will take years.” USTR didn’t comment.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 25-29 in case they were missed.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative concluded in its Trade Act Section 301 investigative report released the evening of Dec. 2 (see 1912020066) that France’s digital services tax (DST), enacted into law in July, discriminates against U.S. companies, tech and business trade associations said. USTR seeks comment by Jan. 6, 2020, in docket USTR-2019-0009 at regulations.gov on its proposal to slap up to 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on 63 subheadings of French imports worth about $2.4 billion in 2018 customs value, mainly cheese, beauty products, handbags and kitchenware. The French government didn’t comment.