The first panel under the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership was established last week by New Zealand, which is challenging Canadian tariff-rate quotas on dairy. Damien O’Connor, New Zealand's trade minister, said last year the TRQs are "against the rules of the CPTPP" and New Zealand's exporters "are not able to fully benefit from the market access that was negotiated under the agreement." The panel request was made in November.
The United Arab Emirates and Georgia signed a new free trade deal, which will reduce tariffs and other trade barriers, Arab News, a Saudi Arabian newspaper, reported March 17. The agreement, reached after three rounds of negotiations, "signals our ambition to build a truly global network of trade partners in strategically important parts of the world,” said Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE’s foreign trade minister, according to the report. He said the Georgia deal “holds considerable promise for our exporters.”
The Federal Maritime Commission is preparing for increased enforcement this year as it expects to receive more complaints and hire more investigators as part of a $43.7 million congressional funding request -- an uptick from the nearly $35 million it asked for last year.
The U.S. should do more to address China’s growing trade influence in Ecuador and throughout Latin America, Rep. Jason Smith, the chair of the House Way and Means Committee, said during a March 15 visit to Ecuador. Smith, R-Mo., told Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso and members of his Cabinet that he is concerned about the country’s “expanding trade ties” with China.
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., complained this week that Brazil is not in the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, and that APEP, once its negotiations are completed, is unlikely to increase U.S. agricultural exports to member countries. Young, speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the future of U.S.-Brazil relations, said farmers in his state rely on market access-opening trade deals, and said the U.S. should try to convince Brazil to lower its tariff barriers on corn, soybeans and ethanol.
World Trade Organization members recently agreed to establish "information-sharing sessions" as part of the WTO's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea stemmed from consultations held by Cambodia's Ambassador Kemvichet Long, chair of the WTO's Services Council. Discussions will cover the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various service sectors, the trade-facilitative steps introduced by members and the pandemic's impact on less-developed countries.
A trade group for the Mexican steel industry, CANACERO, warned that Mexico likely will retaliate against U.S. steel exports if the U.S. reimposes 25% tariffs on Mexican steel -- and the U.S. exports much more steel to Mexico than vice versa.
The U.S. announced a new, sweeping set of export controls and sanctions last week to further hobble Russia on the one-year anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine, including additions to the Entity List, an expansion of industry sector restrictions on both Russia and Belarus, new export controls against Iran to address its drone transfers to Russia, and new financial sanctions against more than 100 people and entities. Many of the measures, which were announced alongside similar actions by U.S. G-7 allies, aim to “cut off the Russian defense industrial base and military from even low-technology consumer items,” the Bureau of Industry and Security said.
India recently proposed simplifying and adjusting its customs duties, including by reducing the number of basic duty rates on goods that aren’t textiles or agricultural items from 21 to 13, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Feb. 21. The country also proposed cutting duties on chimney heat coils from 20% to 15%, increasing rates on electric kitchen chimneys from 7.5% to 15%, decreasing duties on TV panel parts to 2.5% and decreasing rates for “acid grade fluorspar” and “crude glycerine.” Proposed duty changes also could affect inputs for shrimp feed, mobile phones, metals and rubber. An exemption for electric vehicle battery manufacturing chemicals also has been proposed.
House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said the Biden administration is leaving an opportunity on the table by not continuing negotiations for a comprehensive trade agreement with the U.K.