The U.S. government will apply 10 percent tariffs to large civil aircraft and 25 percent tariffs to a variety of European foodstuffs, beverages and some tools, starting at 12:01 Eastern Daylight Time Oct. 18, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a notice posted ahead of publication in the Federal Register. As USTR said previously (see 1905310070), the tariffs are not based on the date of export.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is accepting applications from candidates wanting to serve on its Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee for a two-year “charter term” through September 2021, said an agency notice. The committee advises USTR on “trade policy matters that have a significant impact on the environment,” it said. Unpaid memberships are limited to 35 individuals from industry, academia, consumer groups and “others with expertise in trade and environment matters,” it said. USTR wants the committee to be “broadly representative of key sectors and groups of the economy,” it said. There’s no deadline for applications, but nominees will be accepted on a “rolling basis,” it said.
More than a dozen companies and business groups have submitted comments ahead of an Oct. 2 hearing on how China is complying with World Trade Organization protocols -- and they all agree China has work to do.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative granted 10 of 15 categories of Chinese-sourced Mac Pro components Apple sought to have excluded from 25 percent Section 301 List 3 tariffs in July (see 1907260036), agency records show. Of the five denials, USTR rejected all because Apple “failed to show that the imposition of additional duties on the particular product would cause severe economic harm to you or other U.S. interests,” said Sept. 23 notices posted recently in the public docket. The denials were for Mac Pro CPU heat sinks, BIOS printed circuit boards, AC power cables, caster wheel assemblies and data cables, the docket shows. Waivers were granted on the 10 other requests in mid-September. Apple didn’t comment.
Mid-level negotiations between Chinese negotiators and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative staffers on Sept. 19 and 20 were productive, USTR announced after the close of business on Sept. 20. "The United States looks forward to welcoming a delegation from China for principal-level meetings in October," the announcement said.
The U.S. Trade Representative announced Sept. 19 that it is seeking consultations through the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement because it is not doing enough "to deter its vessels from engaging in fishing activities that violate conservation and management measures" under the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The USTR noted that this is the first time it has requested consultations under the environmental chapter of KORUS.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has granted about 35 percent of the roughly 15,000 requests it received to have products excluded from Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, customs expert John Brew with Crowell & Moring told a Sports & Fitness Industry Association webinar on Sept. 12. “Frankly, there’s a bit of subjectivity in the requests that we’ve seen granted so far,” Brew said. “Sometimes it’s hard to make sense of what’s happening. Part of that is because I think the USTR is overwhelmed. They have tens of thousands of requests and only a few people working on them.” Brew recalled a client which got USTR notification that its exclusion requests had been denied, only to find out later in a Federal Register notice that all had been granted. “Things like that happen, and you just never know how USTR is going to decide, unfortunately,” he said. There’s no exclusion process “yet set” for the List 4 tariffs, Brew said. “That should be coming at some point in the near future. We just don’t know when that’s going to happen.” USTR didn’t comment.
Former Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., will lead the American Italian Food Coalition, which is lobbying against tariffs on Italian pasta, coffee, and wafers and cookies. The coalition of 450 companies and trade associations, launched Sept. 10, argues that Italian foodstuffs should not be part of the retaliation for Airbus subsidies because Italy is not part of the Airbus consortium.
A China Ministry of Commerce press release says that the U.S. treasury secretary and the U.S. trade representative agreed to host trade negotiations in Washington in early October. Working-level staff will negotiate in mid-September, the announcement said. Former Acting Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler, speaking just after the release came out on Sept. 5, said it's the working level staff meetings that hold the most promise for progress. While the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not confirm a specific date, the agency told reporters Sept. 4 that meetings between the USTR and top Chinese officials will be held "in the coming weeks," and that the mid-September meetings of deputy-level officials would lay the groundwork.
The chief executive of the largest domestic table olive producer told a Corning, California, city council meeting that tariffs on bulk olives from the European Union would threaten his company's 500 jobs in Corning and $10 million in plant upgrades. Tim Carter, whose family founded Bell-Carter in 1912, said that Bell-Carter does grow olives in California, but that all the state's olives only could fulfill 35 percent of domestic demand. "This staggering reality is further compounded by the fact that California acreage continues to decrease, with harvests falling by 11 percent annually," the company said in an Aug. 29 press release. He said that Europe can harvest olives with more automation, and that California production is more expensive for that reason, and because of water shortages, labor costs and environmental challenges. He said the company is asking local, state and federal legislators to speak out against targeting European olives for retaliation in the Airbus-Boeing case. The Olive Oil Times reported March 14 that Bell-Carter had canceled many of its contracts with California olive growers for the 2019 harvest, citing the increasing costs of production of California olives.