The former minister counselor for trade affairs in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing told an audience that in the last few years, Chinese government officials "feel like they've outflanked us on the trade front." James Green, who was speaking on a Flexport webinar on the future of U.S.-China trade policy, said that officials were pleasantly surprised that the tariffs on most exports to the U.S. did not hurt their economy more. And, he said, between sealing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and applying to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, they also feel like they have other options for exporting when things with the U.S. sour.
Two Chinese scholars specializing in international trade said they found U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's Oct. 4 speech (see 2110040008) encouraging, even though she criticized Chinese adherence to market principles and the effect that has on companies around the world.
Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., introduced a bill that would offer the more generous unemployment and retraining benefits under Trade Adjustment Assistance to people who lost their jobs because their companies' exports declined after retaliatory tariffs. The bill, whose text was published Sept. 20, says the retaliation could be as a result of tariffs under Section 232, Section 301 or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Currently, TAA covers job loss due to import competition in goods and services.
A day after the White House's primary spokesperson said that if there's an opportunity to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that's a discussion the U.S. could join, a former White House trade negotiator said the path to reentering the TPP is so steep that he doesn't think it's likely in the next few years.
The National Association of Manufacturers CEO is calling on the Biden administration to "act as quickly as possible to finalize and publicize [its China] strategy. Such a clear, robust strategy on China, including U.S.-China trade, would be critical in bolstering manufacturers’ efforts to retain and hire American workers, invest in domestic operations and adjust supply chains, and providing meaningful opportunities for manufacturers to seek targeted relief from broad application of Section 301 tariffs."
Companies that relocated production to Vietnam following President Donald Trump's imposition of China tariffs now find themselves fighting local restrictions due to recent COVID-19 outbreaks in Southeast Asia, Bloomberg reported Sept. 1. In particular, the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai further extended stay-at-home orders and curfews in their localities for another 15 days staring Sept. 1, the report said. In response, an effort has been made by the Vietnamese government to vaccinate workers at factories, including Samsung's in the north and Intel's in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnamese manufacturers are seeking to ramp up the vaccination push ahead of the year-end holiday surge, Bloomberg said. Per data from IHS Markit and JPMorgan included in the report, many of Vietnam's export wins following the start of the pandemic have taken a dip, with the purchasing managers index for the country falling below 50, indicating a contraction in market conditions for manufacturers.
The State Department released the 2020 Digest of United States Practice in International Law, detailing developments in the field for the 2020 calendar year. The publication provides a record of the “views and practice of the U.S. Government in public and private international law,” the State Department said Aug. 18. The publication discusses key court decisions on topics ranging from nationality, citizenship and passports to international crimes. A section on international trade covers investment disputes under free trade agreements, World Trade Organization developments and intellectual property and Section 301 proceedings.
An annual survey of U.S. firms with operations in China that are members of the U.S.-China Business Council found that about 80% of firms said that U.S.-China tensions affected their businesses. Of that group, about half said it caused lost sales in China; about a quarter said they lost sales due to Chinese retaliatory tariffs.
Rep. Jodey Arrington, a Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, was cool to fellow Texas delegation member Sen. John Cornyn's proposal to study the possibility of allowing goods made in foreign-trade zones to be considered originating under USMCA.
Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade Chairman Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., and ranking member Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, agree that the U.S. should be in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but the expert witnesses at the hearing they held June 22 showed no path to the U.S. reentering the agreement with the 11 countries that went on to seal the deal. This was despite agreement among most subcommittee members (though not Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio) and the witnesses that leaving TPP was a tactical mistake that leaves the U.S. at a trade and geopolitical disadvantage.