U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)

The U.S. has initiated the formation of a dispute settlement panel over Mexico's decree to not allow biotech corn for tortillas and directive to the administration to gradually substitute genetically modified corn in processed foods and in animal feed.

New Indian import restrictions on computers and other electronics could “significantly disrupt” trade, including U.S. exports, eight industry groups wrote in a letter this week to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The groups -- representing the American semiconductor, electronics, manufacturing and retail industries -- asked the Biden administration to raise the issue with the Indian government “as a matter of urgency.”

A readout from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative after the latest round of talks between the trade representative and her EU counterpart on a steel and aluminum deal suggested she does not think the EU is thinking big enough. The U.S. and the EU are trying to agree on a system that would preference steel and aluminum made with a lower carbon footprint, and, at the same time, a system that would keep metals produced through non-market excess capacity out of their countries.

The U.S. and India announced a deal June 22 that will end India’s retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. goods while leaving in place the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs that prompted them, and also end six World Trade Organization disputes brought by both the U.S. and India.

The U.S. and Mexico have been consulting about U.S. complaints about favoritism to Mexican energy providers for 11 months, with no public movement toward a dispute settlement panel, and Karen Antebi, a former NAFTA negotiator, said she doesn't expect that to change in the next year.

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.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said her team is on "phase three" of its reform talks at the World Trade Organization, saying that phase brings in all WTO members. Tai, speaking during a March 24 House Ways and Means Committee hearing, said her team in Geneva is "bringing written proposals every meeting" with the goal of making "a more functional negotiating forum." The aim is to move WTO dispute settlement away from litigation and toward negotiation, Tai said. She also decried the WTO's recent rulings against the Section 232 national security tariff action, saying they "are deeply concerning to us and to our national security sovereignty."

The U.S. readout of the first round of negotiations for the 21st Century Trade Initiative with Taiwan said the two sides reached consensus in a number of areas, and will continue to negotiate on trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, domestic regulation of services and approaches to boost small companies and fight corruption.

China took to the World Trade Organization Dec. 12 to challenge U.S. export control measures on semiconductor chips and other products, an official at China's Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation. China referred the export restrictions to the trade body's dispute settlement mechanism, claiming the U.S. has been "generalizing the concept of national security."

Two former government officials, one a leader at a think tank, the other a lawyer at Akin Gump, acknowledge that even as businesses continue to believe quitting the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a tactical error, "there is no conceivable scenario in which the United States could sign onto the [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for] TPP as it exists today. Strong opposition from both sides of the political spectrum to key elements of the deal would prevent congressional approval."