Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters on Jan. 16 that he thinks President Donald Trump is "inclined to" levy higher tariffs on imported autos and auto parts, though he suggested that the process of doing so could be slowed because of the partial federal government shutdown. "Common sense tells me, if you're looking at a bureaucracy that was going to get something done on Feb. 15 and there's 30 days of missed work, it's going to come out March 15," he said.
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
President Donald Trump needs "the tools to make sure we're not robbed any more," said Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., so he told host Lou Dobbs on the Fox Business Network that he'll introduce The Reciprocal Trade Act on Jan. 17. Duffy said the way international trade works now is "absolutely unfair," and the president needs more leeway to raise U.S. tariffs to foreign levels. He gave the example of the 10 percent tariff in Europe on imported cars and a 68 percent tariff there on butter. He said the U.S. has a 3.8 percent tariff on butter. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has already said that such a bill is dead on arrival in his chamber (see 1901090041). "We ain't going to give him any greater authority," he said a week ago. "We've already delegated too much." Duffy complained to Dobbs that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is trying "to sandbag this movement."
A bill that would delay the imposition of Section 232 tariffs on imported autos and auto parts until the International Trade Commission evaluates the industry was reintroduced in the Senate Jan. 15 by its co-sponsors Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala. Jones and Alexander introduced their first bill in July last year (see 1807250048). The ITC is closed during the partial federal government shutdown, and any such comprehensive study would likely have to wait until after the ITC evaluation of the economic benefits of the new NAFTA. The Commerce Department is supposed to make its recommendation to President Donald Trump in mid-February.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon progressive who supported fast track authority in 2015, will lead the House Ways and Means Committee's Trade Subcommittee, winning the seat instead of Rep. Bill Pascrell, the New Jersey Democrat who served as ranking member when the Democrats were in the minority. Blumenauer only chose to assert his seniority after his idea of an infrastructure financing committee didn't come to pass (see 1811140049). Blumenauer released a statement after his selection Jan. 16 that said: "We have an outstanding subcommittee primed to make progress and fight for Democratic values like meaningful, effective trade enforcement, access to affordable medicines, and strong environmental protections at home and abroad."
The Senate voted 57-42 to proceed on a resolution of disapproval of the Trump administration's plan to lift sanctions on Russian aluminum producer Rusal and related companies. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued before the vote that the resolution is not a political stunt, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has alleged. He accused the administration of making its announcement before the Christmas holiday "hoping no one would notice."
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and nine other Democratic senators who wrote to him in October (see 1810230020) that there are no plans to allow for exemptions on the third round of Section 301 tariffs at the current rate. Those tariffs, now set at 10 percent on about 5,700 tariff lines that accounted for about $200 billion in Chinese imports in 2017, will jump to 25 percent March 2 if no deal is reached with China. Lighthizer said in his response, sent Jan. 11, that an exemption process will be implemented if the tariffs increase to 25 percent. A White House official had previously said there would be no exemptions for the 10 percent list (see 1812030042).
House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., will be introducing a resolution that would disapprove of the Trump administration's decision to lift sanctions on Russian aluminum producer Rusal and related companies (see 1812270035), which is due to take effect Jan. 18. In order to prevent the action, the Senate and the House must both disapprove of the sanctions' lifting. The Senate voted Jan. 15 to approve a motion to proceed to a resolution on disapproval. However, that is not the final word in the Senate.
Turkey, in blocking the panel, said the U.S. request for a panel to judge its retaliatory tariffs is unfair because the U.S. took unwarranted and unjustified action to put 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum. Turkey -- along with many other countries -- sees the tariffs as a safeguard measure, not a national security matter. Unlike for other countries, the U.S. later, in August 2018, increased tariffs on Turkish steel to 50 percent (see 1808120001). Turkey will not be able to block the request at the next World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body meeting, so it will go forward, and will be the sixth panel on retaliatory tariffs. The European Union, during the Jan. 11 DSB meeting, said that Turkey is standing up to U.S. abuse of the national security exception in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, according to a summary provided by a Geneva trade official.
The U.S. trade representative will negotiate with the European Union to seek to "secure comprehensive market access for U.S. agricultural goods in the EU by reducing or eliminating tariffs," and eliminate "non-tariff barriers that discriminate against U.S. agricultural goods," the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.
Until Jan. 14, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative was able to use funding that had already been appropriated to keep all of its 265 staff paid, but the agency now has gone into furlough mode. Just 74 of the staff will continue working without pay, as excepted workers, the new way to refer to what used to be called essential workers. USTR said in a brief notice that those staffers will continue to conduct trade negotiations and enforcement. There has been no announcement of when negotiations with Japan on a new trade agreement might begin.