Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and six Republican co-sponsors introduced a bill in the House last week that would direct the U.S. to impose sanctions on anyone who provides support to someone in Cuba's military, security sector or intelligence sector. The administration could ask for a waiver for 180 days of these sanctions for national security reasons.
Farmers who produce several sorts of commodities continue to regret the U.S. retreat from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and want the administration to prioritize opening markets for their goods in Southeast Asia, according to a Farmers for Free Trade panel held virtually.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai called on the World Trade Organization to conclude the fisheries subsidies agreement, and said that discussions in Geneva about how to revive the Appellate Body should instead focus on what could incentivize countries to reach an agreement before years and years of litigation.
Thirteen Republicans in the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., wrote a letter asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to increase trade engagement with countries like Uruguay, Paraguay, Guatemala, Ecuador and Colombia. The letter, sent Oct. 13, noted that while the U.S. is the biggest trading partner of Central American countries and Caribbean nations, China is the No. 1 trading partner off the continent for all but two countries in South America, and in many cases, such as Argentina, Chile and Brazil, their trade with China overshadows trade with their immediate neighbors. In South America, only Ecuador and Colombia buy and sell more to the U.S. than they do to China, and Colombia has a free trade agreement with the U.S.
President Joe Biden announced Oct. 13 that after administration officials negotiated for weeks, they convinced the Port of Los Angeles to operate 24/7, convinced the labor unions to staff those 60 extra hours, and got commitments from major shippers like Walmart, Samsung, FedEx and UPS to use the time, too.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., leads a group of progressive House members who blocked a vote on an infrastructure bill that would spend $17 billion on ports over 10 years. On a press call, she told reporters, "We must and we will achieve our goals of passing both (bills)," referring to the infrastructure bill that already passed the Senate, and a broader spending program that mostly addresses social, educational, health and climate spending. However, $3.5 billion of that broader "soft infrastructure" bill would also benefit ports as currently proposed, for electrifying port operations.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she talked about "ongoing efforts to address global overcapacity in the steel and aluminum sectors and shared challenges posed by non-market economies" when she met with her European Union counterpart on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Sorrento, Italy. The EU did not issue its own readout of the meeting, but Valdis Dombrovskis tweeted, "Met [the] USTR, Ambassador Tai, to continue our discussions on finding a settlement on the Trump steel & aluminium tariffs #232. The work continues." He has previously said that an agreement on Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum has to be reached by early November in order to prevent retaliatory tariffs from doubling on Dec. 1. Those retaliatory tariffs have hurt the export of American spirits.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., introduced a bill that would sanction two Chinese health officials that he says chose not to share information early in the pandemic that could have helped authorities respond. His Oct. 5 press release said, "The sanctions would remain in place until they allow an independent, unimpeded investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a potential origin for the COVID-19 virus." The bill is a companion to a Republican bill introduced in June with 27 co-sponsors.
Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said that while what he called the "food fight between Democrats" is preventing legislation from moving this year, "this next year would be an opportune time to have a conversation about [Section 232 reform] in a bipartisan way." Brady, who was responding to a question during a call with reporters Oct. 6, said he'd like to be a part of that conversation about the use of national security tariffs and Congress's role in setting tariffs.
Two Chinese scholars specializing in international trade said they found U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's Oct. 4 speech (see 2110040008) encouraging, even though she criticized Chinese adherence to market principles and the effect that has on companies around the world.