A bipartisan group of senators asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to secure better access for pecan exporters to India as the two countries negotiate a trade deal. In a Sept. 20 letter, the senators urged Lighthizer to work to remove the “existing barriers” pecan exporters are facing, including a 36 percent Indian import tariff, compared with 10 percent tariffs on pistachios and almonds.
Exports to China
The Congressional Research Service issued an updated report on Sept. 13 on retaliatory tariffs and U.S. agriculture, detailing retaliatory tariffs imposed on the U.S. by China, Canada, Mexico, the European Union and more. The 49-page report also includes “key competitors” for China’s agricultural market, which U.S. agricultural sectors have been most affected by the tariffs, and the long- and short-term impacts of the tariffs on U.S. industries and the economy.
Mid-level negotiations between Chinese negotiators and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative staffers on Sept. 19 and 20 were productive, USTR announced after the close of business on Sept. 20. "The United States looks forward to welcoming a delegation from China for principal-level meetings in October," the announcement said.
Argentina will begin an antidumping investigation on Chinese tricycles and announced the results of three other investigations on Chinese goods, according to a Sept. 19 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Argentina’s investigation into Chinese tricycles exclude tricycles with electric motors and could result in duties on the Chinese item for five years, the report said. Argentina also determined that China has been dumping certain aluminum alloy sheet. It investigated whether certain footwear from China is circumventing AD duties by going through a Malaysia exporter and found in the affirmative, but found in an anti-circumvention AD duty review that certain sunglasses produced in Taiwan are not circumventing the AD duty order, the report said.
The Commerce Department posted an updated version of its "China's 301 Retaliation Product Scope" that lists U.S. goods that are included in China's retaliatory tariffs. The updated list includes Chinese tariff increases that took effect Sept. 1.
China and Russia signed several trade-related agreements when the two sides met in Russia last week, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a Sept. 19 press release. The two countries signed a “number of pragmatic cooperation documents” to expand trade and “voice support for the multilateral trading system,” China said, according to an unofficial translation. The two sides said they support the World Trade Organization and announced their intention to ratify an “upcoming ‘China-Eurasia Economic Union Economic and Trade Cooperation Agreement,’” China said.
Gilbert Kaplan, Commerce's undersecretary for international trade, resigned last week, a Commerce spokesperson said, declining to answer further questions. Kaplan's resignation came during an important week in trade negotiations with China as Chinese officials visited Washington to continue talks. Kaplan was confirmed to the role in 2018 after working as a trade lawyer with King & Spalding. The resignation was first reported by Bloomberg.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Sept. 20 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
European Union customs authorities seized about 10,000 more imports of counterfeit goods in 2018 compared with the previous year due to an increase in “small parcels in express and postal traffic,” the European Commission said Sept. 19. The seizures of the counterfeit imports, or items that infringed on intellectual property rights, included mostly cigarettes, toys, packaging material, labels and clothing, the commission said. China was the “main source” of the seized imports, which increased from about 57,000 in 2017 to 69,000 in 2018.
U.S. and India face significant trade tensions that won't be easily solved, a trade expert said, adding that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken more steps to close off trade than the country’s past two leaders. “I get asked, is India the next [U.S.] target?” said Rick Rossow, a senior adviser for U.S.-India policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Those of us that are in the trenches, there are already bombs dropping. There are already bullets whizzing by. It's pretty serious.”