The U.S. asked for formal dispute settlement consultations with Mexico over its policies on biotech products, but did not commit to moving forward with a panel request if the consultations are not fruitful within 75 days. That's the earliest a panel could be requested under USMCA.

The Australia-U.K. Free Trade Agreement officially took effect May 31, Australia announced, allowing more than 99% of Australian goods to enter the U.K. duty free and eliminating Australian tariffs on more than 98% of U.K. goods (see 2303270011). Australia called the agreement a “gold standard trade deal,” saying it will benefit Australian industrial goods, electrical equipment and fashion items by eliminating tariffs on those items, and will impose duty free transitional quotas, “with eventual elimination of all tariffs,” on Australian beef, sugar, dairy and more.

Trade groups representing major exporters -- including the American Chemistry Council, the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and agricultural interests -- are telling the Biden administration that they are disappointed that regulatory barriers to trade are not being addressed in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she and Australia’s Trade Minister Don Farrell, meeting on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers' meeting, agreed the negotiations on the trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity have been constructive.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai brought up China's nonmarket approach to trade, and how it causes "critical imbalances," according to a readout of her May 26 meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

The U.S. and Taiwan completed five chapters of a trade agreement similar to the issues under discussion in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the U.S. announced late May 18.

Some supply chain agreements in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework may be announced in May, according to officials at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and the institute held a webinar May 3 and released a paper with recommendations of how to shape the supply chain pillar ahead of those announcements.

The U.S. readout of the meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Canada's trade minister, Mary Ng, mentioned Canada's proposed digital services tax. "Ambassador Tai expressed her hope that the United States and Canada could work together on this issue that could unfairly impact U.S. businesses," it said.

Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng said that Canada and its partners in NAFTA 2.0 will not be caught unawares when it's time for the sunset review in 2026. She said that she and her counterparts in Mexico and the U.S. will be taking stock of how the agreement is working in July.

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.