Mara Lee

Former Mexican ambassadors to the U.S. and a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico expressed anxiety that Mexico is not able to capitalize on the move to nearshore or friendshore for a variety of reasons.

Canada published a notice welcoming distributors who do not have an allocation under dairy tariff rate quotas in 2022 to apply for unallocated quotas for industrial cheeses, and said that it no longer has allocation pools dedicated to processors.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and the likelihood that the EU will pass a due diligence directive requiring disclosure of forced labor risk for large companies are changing the paradigm of supply chain visibility, a top Labor Department official said during a webinar on human rights in global supply chains. Thea Lee, a long-time union official and now deputy undersecretary for international affairs in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, said, "I do think that we are in a new era, and it will behoove most companies to start taking these steps to be able to have the eyes into their supply chain whether they are directly impacted right now by the EU directive or whether they are selling goods into the United States."

Senators said that officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative failed to consult properly before a proposal to make changes to the TRIPS Agreement regarding coronavirus vaccines was released, and that the agency's approach needs to change. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, led the letter, which said: "Administrations of both parties have struggled to comply with the terms Congress has provided to ensure its views are reflected in our trade policy. Accordingly, we request that you take steps to ensure Congress is a full partner in the Administration’s ongoing trade negotiations, regardless of whether the Administration believes any eventual agreement from such negotiations will require formal Congressional approval. To that end, the Office of the United States Trade Representative... must provide Congress with timely, substantive briefings on negotiations and share all U.S. negotiating texts before the Administration commits the United States to a particular negotiating position or outcome."

Legislation from Senate Foreign Affairs Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., would direct the administration to impose export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and asks that the government "develop a strategy to diplomatically engage the governments of the Netherlands, Japan, and other appropriate countries ... to formulate export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment" so that China couldn't purchase the equipment. The Economic Statecraft for the Twenty-First Century Act's text was published May 6. The bill also directs the administration to review the economic, diplomatic and security effects of implementing export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and how such a policy would affect China's semiconductor industry.

At a joint press conference in Ottawa, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Canadian trade minister Mary Ng did not reveal any agreements on trade irritants, but emphasized that they can work out their differences with the trust they share and the strong relationship between the neighboring countries. It was Tai's first trip to Canada since becoming USTR, and she had a full schedule planned, meeting with small businesses, labor groups, and touring a General Motors facility in Markham, Ontario.

A bill that would require the State Department to report to Congress on whether China is helping Russians "evade or circumvent United States sanctions or multilateral sanctions and export controls," or whether China is inhibiting onsite export control end-use checks within its borders, passed the House of Representatives on a 394-3 vote on April 27. The Assessing Xi’s Interference and Subversion Act was sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky. , who said after its passage, "We need a full report on the extent of the collaboration between Russia and China to inform the public and enable lawmakers to begin positioning the U.S. to overcome this geopolitical challenge.” If the bill becomes law, the first report would be due in 30 days, and then reports would be due every 90 days after that.

The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, who will be one of the negotiators for the compromise China package, expressed pessimism that a version of the bill can be found that can get a majority vote in both the House and Senate. The Senate passed its version, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, with 67 votes; the House version, known as the Competes Act, only had one Republican on board.

Among the 28 motions to instruct for China package negotiations that will be considered next Tuesday and Wednesday in the Senate, two are on sanctions, and one requires that business funding programs document that technology developed at the companies receiving grants don't share sensitive technology with China or Russia.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told senators repeatedly during her testimony at a Commerce Committee hearing that the conference process for the House and Senate's China packages needs to get done as soon as possible, because other countries are offering funds to chipmakers, and companies are looking to plan new plants, because demand is so high. Raimondo said she's spoken with all the American chipmakers, and it's clear to her that if Congress doesn't act, those companies will invest in Germany, Singapore, France or Spain rather than Ohio or Arizona. Raimondo said, "They want to operate in our country, but they cannot wait. They are going to build, and if we don’t act quickly with USICA, they’ll build elsewhere."