Senators on the Finance Committee agreed that deepening trade ties with countries in Asia is important both for geopolitical and economic reasons, but they disagreed during a March 15 hearing on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework about whether a traditional free-trade agreement is a better approach than the IPEF.
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
The Commerce Department is soliciting comments from companies, academics and other researchers, labor unions and civil society on how the U.S. should negotiate with countries to create an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. They'd like to hear stakeholders' advice on general negotiating objectives; supply chain resilience; digital and emerging technologies' treatment; how the IPEF could address clean energy, decarbonization and infrastructure; and tax- and anti-corruption-related issues. Comments are due on or before April 11.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order March 11 banning exports of luxury goods headed to Russian residents, including luxury vehicles, jewelry, high-end alcohol, high-end watches, and high-end jewelry. A fact sheet said Russians import about $550 million a year worth of these goods.
The EU ambassador to Washington, Stavros Lambrinidis, said that settling trade irritants between the U.S. and Europe and setting up the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council made it easy to get a unified front on export controls done quickly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The TTC "ensured every player that’s important in this field could get on the phone and get it done," he said during a March 9 webinar hosted by the World Trade Center in Washington, D.C., and the Washington Intergovernmental Professional Group.
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association is asking House and Senate leadership to "expeditiously advance" a compromise China package by resolving differences between the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) and the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength (America Competes) Act.
Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's commissioner for competition, connected overreliance on China to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in a speech in Paris on March 7. Vestager didn't mention China by name, but spoke of the need to have more European production of semiconductors, and said if Europe then partners "with like-minded democracies we can stabilize our supply chain. Because, crisis or not, Europe cannot do it alone."
News operations in Europe reported that the EU began the process on March 4 of ending most favored nation tariffs on Russian goods. A European Commission spokesperson confirmed the reports to Export Compliance Daily on March 7. "There was broad support within the Trade Policy Committee regarding actions taken by Russia that would justify the non-application of MFN vis-à-vis Russia," the spokesperson said. "There was strong support to work with likeminded countries on a joint statement and a willingness to take appropriate trade measures as an action. This is now work in progress. From the EU perspective, such measures would be adopted on the same procedures as those that were used to adopt the previous rounds of sanctions."
Democrats who lead the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis are asking major carriers for extensive documents and proprietary information, saying they have the authority to investigate price gouging and profiteering connected to the pandemic.
A new Canadian approach to dairy tariff rate quotas, which still sharply limits the retail sale of imports, drew fire from three U.S. dairy trade groups.
The Federal Maritime Commission is planning to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on container return and "earliest return date" practices by carriers, Commissioner Rebecca Dye told the Senate Commerce Committee. She also said there will be an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on detention and demurrage billing practices.