Former Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who also is a former ambassador to China, said that while the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is weak compared with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, "but it’s a beginning and we have to work with it." Baucus said he continues to believe the U.S. should have joined the TPP, which has been rebranded as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, but said that when he flew back from China to lobby on its behalf, "It was pretty clear this is toxic -- this was going nowhere."
At a joint press conference in Ottawa, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Canadian trade minister Mary Ng did not reveal any agreements on trade irritants, but emphasized that they can work out their differences with the trust they share and the strong relationship between the neighboring countries. It was Tai's first trip to Canada since becoming USTR, and she had a full schedule planned, meeting with small businesses, labor groups, and touring a General Motors facility in Markham, Ontario.
The United Arab Emirates recently launched an online portal for information on the country’s trade deal with India, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported May 4. The portal includes a copy of the full agreement, provides summaries of its “key clauses” and includes a searchable tariff database for specific goods. It also has “tariff structures, introduction timetables, differential treatments, rules of origin, customs procedures, issues impacting small and medium‑size enterprises, and available digital trade options,” the report said. The deal took effect May 1.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates earlier this month completed negotiations on a new free trade deal that will apply to about 95% of traded goods between the two countries, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported April 26. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is expected to “significantly lower or eliminate tariffs” on agricultural goods, food, cosmetic products, medical equipment and medicines, the report said.
TPM Solicitors & Consultants published an April 22 post on the recently signed India-Australia trade deal (see 2204040028), detailing the tariff benefits for each side, concessions in the pharmaceutical sector, the agreed safeguard measures and more. The deal is expected to boost trade between the two nations by $40 billion to $50 billion in the next five years, the firm said, and should be followed by a comprehensive free trade agreement in the next 12 to 18 months.
Australia and India on April 2 signed an interim trade deal that will slash tariffs on a range of Australian goods, the country’s trade ministry said. The agreement will eliminate tariffs on more than 85% of Australian exports to India, covering agricultural goods, food products, energy products, medical items and more. The deal will also lift Australian tariffs on about 96% of Indian goods. Both countries plan to continue working toward a full trade agreement.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., the top Republican on the House Agriculture subcommittee that covers trade, told Farmers For Free Trade that ag exporters "want China to live up to their commitments, but we don't want to put all our eggs in one basket."
Australia and the United Arab Emirates plan to negotiate a free trade agreement, Australia’s trade ministry said March 17. The deal would be the first bilateral trade agreement between Australia and a Middle Eastern country, Australia said, and would create new “opportunities” for Australian exporters. The country also hopes the deal will represent an “important building block” toward a free trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose members are the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. Australia and the UAE plan to begin negotiations “in the near future.”
China's lack of worker rights, weak environmental standards "and anticompetitive subsidies are the hallmarks of China’s artificial comparative advantage. It is an advantage that puts others out of business and violates any notion of fair competition," the annual trade policy agenda from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said, and the administration is looking to advance fair competition "through all available avenues," including coordinating with other countries, using existing trade agreements, or new tools, it said.
Sanctions, rather than additional tariffs, are the most likely result of political pressure to not look soft on China, Bank of America analysts Ethan Harris and Aditya Bhave predicted. The two wrote in a Feb. 18 note that it's not surprising that China did not purchase the volume of U.S. exports it promised, but "what's unusual is the lack of follow-through from either side so far, other than empty rhetoric."