A trade deal between Australia and India will officially take effect Dec. 29 after India’s government this week “completed its domestic requirements” to enact the agreement, Australia said. Beginning later this month, the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement will remove tariffs on 85% of Australian exports to India, while high tariffs on another 5% of goods will be phased down over time. Australia also said its importers will “save around $500 million in tariffs on imports of finished goods, and inputs to our manufacturing sector.” USDA warned earlier this year that the trade deal could pose challenges for U.S. trade, including for prospects of American food and agricultural products in the Indian market (see 2205060032).
Stakeholders that wish to speak to officials in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Commerce Department about their negotiating priorities for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework must email IPEF@ustr.eop.gov by Dec. 2 if they wish to speak in Brisbane, Australia, on Dec. 13, and by Dec. 5 if they want to speak Dec. 6 in Washington. Email subject lines should say "USTR/Department of Commerce Listening Session" for the domestic event and "Brisbane Stakeholder Event" to get an opportunity to speak on the sidelines of the negotiating round. The Dec. 6 event will run from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; the Brisbane event, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. local time.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a conference that Canada had to talk the U.S. out of structuring its Inflation Reduction Act electric vehicle incentives so that they were tied solely to U.S. production.
Japan’s Diet gave its final approval for a new beef safeguard trigger under the U.S-Japan Trade Agreement (see 2206030006), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said last week. Both the U.S. and Japan are now working to complete all remaining “domestic procedures” to officially implement the new trigger, which could reduce the possibility that U.S. beef exporters face higher tariffs when shipping to Japan (see 2203240020). “The Protocol will ensure our farmers and ranchers continue to have access to one of the world’s most dynamic markets,” USTR Katherine Tai said.
Australia, New Zealand and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations completed negotiations this week to upgrade the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. The upgrade will “strengthen and improve” the trade deal with new provisions on electronic commerce, competition, customs procedures, trade facilitation, rules of origin and more, Australia said. It also will “support traders to conduct business in the region, particularly when it comes to completing documentation -- everything from origin certification to invoicing requirements,” the country said.
Australia will host the first in-person negotiating round for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in Brisbane, starting Dec. 10. "This will be an important opportunity to identify areas of consensus and continue developing the four IPEF pillars," Office of the U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Adam Hodge said. The round is scheduled to last through Dec. 15.
The U.S. and Ukraine will negotiate to update the United States-Ukraine Trade and Investment Cooperation Agreement, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said after meeting Nov. 9 with Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the U.S. and Taiwan had two days of productive meetings this week, exchanging views on what needs to be addressed in trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, anticorruption, small and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture, standards, digital trade, labor, environment, state-owned enterprises, and non-market policies and practices.
The U.S. and Taiwan will hold in-person "conceptual discussions" on the U.S.-Taiwan trade initiative in New York Nov. 8-9. The trade initiative (see 2208180042) is similar to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, in which Taiwan isn't a participant.
Although President Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration tariffs on Chinese imports during his campaign, and although his treasury secretary repeatedly said they contribute to inflation and some of them are harmful, trade lobbyists for UPS and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the tariffs are largely here to stay.