Australia and India on Oct. 1 officially resumed negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which is expected to boost trade and improve trade rules over standards, rules of origin, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (see 2108020009). The two countries said they hope to reach an interim agreement by December and complete negotiations on a full deal by the end of 2022.

European Union Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters that because of the work that needs to happen within the EU to get it done before retaliatory tariffs are scheduled to double, the U.S. and the EU need to reach an agreement by the beginning of November. Tariffs on the retaliation list are supposed to double on Dec. 1. Dombrovskis said this on Bloomberg TV; he also suggested to reporters that the import and export monitoring that was part of the removal of steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico is something that the EU is open to.

A panel of trade experts said managed trade doesn't have to be a dirty word, but that the conflation of national security and economic security is dangerous. The Washington International Trade Association decided to host a discussion on managed trade after an essay was published by Edward Alden called, "Free Trade Is Dead. Risky ‘Managed Trade’ Is Here."

Taiwan has formally asked to join the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, a few days after China asked to join the trade pact, a Taiwanese wire service reported.The trade agreement was originally designed to counter China's influence in Asia, and has been ratified by Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. It is now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Australia is expecting its exports to significantly benefit from Peru’s recent ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the country said Sept. 20. Australia specifically said its farmers and businesses will gain new market access and export opportunities. “Peru is a fast-growing, dynamic economy offering Australian exporters a gateway to Latin America and the CPTPP will support trade with Peru growing beyond our existing bilateral agreement,” said Dan Tehan, Australia’s trade and investment minister.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that she's still evaluating how a free trade agreement with Great Britain "could support the Biden-Harris Administration’s broader Build Back Better agenda," in a readout of her first meeting, on Sept. 20, with the new top trade official for the United Kingdom, Anne-Marie Trevelyan. Tai said she does want to deepen bilateral trade ties with the U.K. The readout also said there needs to be a durable solution to implement the trade protocols between Northern Ireland, which is technically no longer in the European Union, and Ireland, so that peace in Northern Ireland is preserved. As part of Brexit, the U.K. agreed to allow Northern Ireland to stay in the Customs Union of the EU so that the soft border between Northern Ireland and Ireland could remain, but that means that part of the U.K. is essentially a foreign country for trade purposes, so the U.K. has tried to find wiggle room in the treatment of Northern Ireland goods.

A day after the White House's primary spokesperson said that if there's an opportunity to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that's a discussion the U.S. could join, a former White House trade negotiator said the path to reentering the TPP is so steep that he doesn't think it's likely in the next few years.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai met with Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo Sept. 13, and in a summary of that meeting, she said she emphasized the importance of advancing workers' rights through the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, as well as using KORUS to resolve bilateral issues.

In a strategic meeting called a high-level economic dialogue, Mexico and the U.S. talked about ways to facilitate the movement of goods at the border and ways to use Mexico in a North American-centric semiconductor supply chain, officials said after the Sept. 9 meeting. Mexico could become a place for packaging and testing chips, Mexico's Economy Secretary Tatiana Clouthier said at a press conference at the Mexican Embassy.

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was asked at his Sept. 2 press conference if it would be better to reach an agreement among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico on the question of the interpretation of auto rules of origin. López Obrador said.that it would be better to reach agreement without having to convene a dispute settlement panel, and added, "I don't think it will go that far; an agreement is to be reached soon." The countries could also try mediation or conciliation instead of a panel if consultations are unsuccessful.