The Alliance for Trade Enforcement, a coalition of trade associations and business groups, says the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity needs effective dispute settlement to fulfill its promise for American exporters.

U.S. politicians are sending a mixed message on trade with Taiwan, experts said during an event hosted by the Hudson Institute, a right-of-center think tank mostly focused on foreign policy.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai drew a distinction between 35% tariffs on Russian goods, which she said are designed to punish that country's war of aggression, and 25% (or 7.5%) tariffs on Chinese goods, which she said are not punishing tariffs.

African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits for Kenya need to continue as any trade partnership is formed, commenters said, especially the third-country fabric rule of origin.

Talk of a potential “early harvest” partial deal on trade from Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) talks is a “little premature,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said during a call with reporters early on Sept. 19. In Cambodia for talks with Association of Southeast Asian Nations ministers, Tai said the U.S. is “coming into this with a lot of ambition, and again, a lot of motivation,” and is focused on making sure “that we are engaging robustly across all components of the trade pillar because all of them are important.” Tai said it remains to be seen “just how fast we can get to our deliverables,” but that the U.S. is “focused on speed, agility, and also on being practical.”

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai had a first video call with Japan's new trade minister, Nishimura Yasutoshi, ahead of an in-person meeting next week. "Ambassador Tai and Minister Nishimura reaffirmed ongoing collaboration to address non-market policies and practices, including economic coercion, and shared commitment to respect internationally-recognized worker rights, including eradicating forced labor," USTR's readout said. This followed a lower-level series of meetings, called the U.S.-Japan Partnership on Trade, where the U.S. said they discussed regulatory transparency, standards issues that are barriers to U.S. exports of products and services, and the U.S.'s desire that Japan buy more ethanol.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will meet with top government officials from countries participating in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity Sept. 8 in Los Angeles, USTR announced. This will be the first in-person meeting since the IPEF was launched. The ministers will talk about trade; supply chains; clean energy, decarbonization, and infrastructure; and tax and anti-corruption.

Singapore recently completed negotiations with South American trade bloc Mercosur that are expected to lower tariffs on a range of products traded between the two sides, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Aug. 19. The deal includes reduced tariff commitments and initiatives to cooperate on intellectual property rights and competition policy, the report said. HKTDC said Singapore’s trade with Mercosur represents nearly half of its total trade with Latin America.

The U.K. and India recently completed their fifth round of free trade agreement negotiations and hope to conclude a majority of the talks by the end of October, the U.K. said this week. The latest round of negotiations featured “detailed draft treaty text discussions” in 15 policy areas.

The U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments at regulations.gov on what its officials should talk to Kenya about in the areas of: