The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative laid out the externalities to other economies of China's state-led economy in a 72-page annual report to Congress. "Since last year’s report, our assessment of China’s record in terms of transitioning to a market economy has not changed," the report said. While the report's framing is about how China complies with World Trade Organization rules, the authors minimized the WTO's ability to constrain China and emphasized that countries must expand domestic trade remedies or develop other tools to deal with China's rise.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and 27 Republican colleagues, introduced a bill that would require the administration to impose Magnitsky Act sanctions if any member or person associated with the International Olympic Committee supported "a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights" against any Olympic or Paralympic Winter games participant. However, the president can choose not to impose sanctions if he determines that a waiver is in the country's national security interests. The text of the bill, which was published Feb. 10, says that participants aren't just athletes -- they can be spectators, members of the press, "government and private officials ... and persons involved in economic activity related to the Games."
Alaska's two Republican senators, Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, introduced a bill that would ban the import of Russian seafood products. Russia doesn't import U.S. seafood products anymore, in retaliation for sanctions Western nations imposed after Russia invaded Crimea, part of Ukraine, a region that it later annexed. The bill, which the senators announced Dec. 11 but introduced earlier this week, is called the U.S.-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act.
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., told a virtual audience Feb. 9 hosted by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations that there are more members of Congress who want to punish China or decouple from its economy than there are those who see themselves as trying to salvage the relationship.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is telling Congress that some of the language about Non-Vessel Operating Common Carriers (or NVOCCs) and "Ocean Transport Intermediaries" in the Ocean Shipping Act does not make sense, because these intermediaries do not control cargo placement aboard a vessel, and most of the time, they do not set detention and demurrage charges.
With new data out about exports to China, economist Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics says that China only bought 60% of the goods it promised, and about 57% of all it promised, when services are included. In all, China said it would buy $502.4 billion from U.S. sources in 2020 and 2021.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., announced he is introducing a bill that would make U.S. companies liable for statements "that excuse the genocide in Xinjiang" or other statements that advance Chinese propaganda efforts, and would make it illegal to invest in core Chinese Communist Party activities. He says these actions would be subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, unless companies could explain that their actions were not made to gain or retain market access. Traditionally, the FCPA has been used to prosecute the offering of bribes by U.S. persons or firms in foreign countries.
Panelists at a Washington International Trade Association conference Feb. 2 said they're not sure when the supply chain crisis will ease, noting the U.S. brought a record number of containers into the country last year. Jonathan Gold, the National Retail Federation's vice president for supply chains, said he expects the amount to be even higher in 2022.
The deputy U.S. trade representative whose portfolio covers Asia and Africa acknowledged that it may be more challenging to get buy-in from countries for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework without the carrot of lower U.S. tariffs, but she said corporate support will help negotiators get agreement.
Although concluding negotiations on subsidies that contribute to overfishing may seem like a long shot, since 21 years has not been long enough to reach agreement, World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard said there is an eagerness among many member country delegations to get it done. She acknowledged that developing countries' desire to claim "special and differential treatment" under the body's rules to curb overfishing does cause dissension. But, she said, "it's important to show we can do this."