Tai Talks Trade Facilitation During Asia Press Conference

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, speaking from Asia, where she had just finished a round of meetings with Philippine and Japanese officials, said the U.S.-China trade war did not come up in her meetings, as these visits focused much more on the bilateral trade and economic relationship.

Tai said she did talk with trade ministers from both countries about the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the trade agreement the U.S. is negotiating in the region. Tai, who spoke to reporters from China, Vietnam and the U.S. during a phone call April 25, told a Chinese reporter that the IPEF is not like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which China is seeking to join, or the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a trade agreement launched by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that includes China and Japan. That reporter had asked if the U.S. would ever join a regional trade agreement China is a party to.

Tai replied that the IPEF is designed to address supply chain fragilities and the climate crisis.

In response to a question from International Trade Today, she said her agency is negotiating for trade facilitation measures in IPEF to ensure "our economies are more interoperable, that we are maximizing the efficiencies at the border." She said digitizing documents is part of the push, but referred to the text summaries USTR has shared on its proposals for more details.

There, the agency said it is asking governments to agree "to post online their trade and border-related laws, regulations, and procedures. Governments are also required to make all their forms available online and to receive them, and other supporting documents, electronically."

The U.S. is asking IPEF partners to agree to process advance data in a single window "with a view to releasing goods upon arrival," the text summaries said. It also is asking countries to provide a less formal entry for express shipments and returns.

"Additionally, the proposal would prohibit the use of consular transactions for imported goods, reduce formalities for containers, require governments to offer electronic payment of duties, taxes, and fees, and encourages the growth in electronic invoicing and electronic invoicing frameworks."