The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely June 23, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by June 22.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for May 17-21 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the U.S. and Canada could not reach an agreement on the administration of Canada's dairy tariff rate quotas, so the dispute will be decided by a panel. At issue is the fact that Canada has reserved the large majority of TRQs for Canadian processors, which means that consumer goods produced in the U.S. like ice cream, cheese or yogurt face higher tariffs in Canada because very little of the TRQ is available to Canadian retailers. Even when it's not restricted to processors, the TRQs are reserved for distributors, which means American producers cannot pitch their goods at lower prices directly to retail chains.
Eight House members, four Democrats and four Republicans, wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that five months of consultations is more than enough, and it's time to push for a binding resolution to the administration of dairy tariff rate quotas in Canada. Under the USMCA, the next steps could be Canada and the U.S. agreeing to conciliation or mediation, or the U.S. could call for a dispute settlement panel. Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wis.; Tom Reed, R-N.Y.; Antonio Delgado, D-N.Y.; Glenn Thompson, R-Pa.; Suzan DelBene, D-Wash.; Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.; Jim Costa, D-Calif.; and David Valadao, R-Calif., sent the letter May 21, and in it noted that Canada reserves part of its quotas for processors in Canada, a factor that undermines the ability of American dairy exporters to use the TRQs.
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.
Mexico and Canada emphasized how the COVID-19 pandemic has proven the need for interlinked supply chains, but U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai emphasized supply chains' downside as she, Mexico's economy minister and Canada's trade minister sat down to the first Free Trade Commission meeting of the USMCA. Tai said, "Not only have we discovered the fragility of our supply chains, but we have just begun to appreciate the degree to which they run counter to our collective goals of ensuring that workers within North America, and outside it, are paid a fair wage, in a safe workplace."
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.
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.