Two former government officials, one a leader at a think tank, the other a lawyer at Akin Gump, acknowledge that even as businesses continue to believe quitting the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a tactical error, "there is no conceivable scenario in which the United States could sign onto the [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for] TPP as it exists today. Strong opposition from both sides of the political spectrum to key elements of the deal would prevent congressional approval."
More than half of the House Ways and Means Committee members, including all three of the Republicans vying to be its chairman in the next Congress, are asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to initiate formal dispute resolution consultations with Mexico over Mexico's barriers to U.S. crops that are genetically modified or use other biotechnology.
If the U.S. position on calculating the regional content of automobiles prevails in a USMCA state-to-state dispute, Baker McKenzie associate Eunkyung Kim Shin predicted, companies would be likely to import more parts used to assemble the automobiles. Shin, who spoke at a Baker McKenzie webinar Nov. 15, said that when the entire value of a part counts toward the vehicle regional content threshold once that part meets its own rule of origin, it makes sense to build the part in Mexico, the U.S. or Canada. But if the non-local content of those parts is not disregarded when doing vehicle-level calculations, it might be cheaper just to import the parts from a lower-cost country, she said.
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The International Trade Commission, which is tasked with measuring the economic impact of the USMCA's stringent auto rules of origin, heard from auto industry players in the U.S. and Mexico that satisfying the labor value content audits is next-to-impossible.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, in a Federal Register notice published Oct. 26, asked for applications from people who would like to serve on panels that review final determinations in antidumping or countervailing duty proceedings and amendments to AD/CVD statutes of a USMCA Party. These people would be on the roster from April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024. Applications are due by Nov. 30, and can be submitted at www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2022-0015.
The Alliance for Trade Enforcement, a coalition of trade associations and business groups, says the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity needs effective dispute settlement to fulfill its promise for American exporters.
The EU is looking into whether the protectionist items in the recently passed U.S. Inflation Reduction Act violate World Trade Organization rules, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told Bloomberg, the publication reported Sept. 10. The IRA -- a $437 billion tax, health and climate bill -- included provisions to boost North American production of electric cars, providing tax credits for electric vehicles made in North America. After a few years, the credits will only available to vehicles with advanced batteries that cut China out of their supply chains, and where the majority of the battery's value is from North America. Dombrovskis expressed concern over these measures along with the IRA's broader preference for U.S. manufacturing when it comes to government procurement.
Forty-four House members, led by prominent trade skeptic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told the administration that they do not support the inclusion of eight of the 13 countries in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework negotiations, and that Congress and outside stakeholders should have "the opportunity to weigh in at the outset on proposals for specific negotiation objectives and, as negotiations continue, on draft text."
CBP posted several documents ahead of the Sept. 14 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting: