Tag: Trade

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Politics

U.S. and EU have loads of work to do to rebuild commerce relationship

U.S. and EU have a lot of work to do to rebuild trade relationship

American and European politicians are saying the right things about a new approach to transatlantic trade.

The past few years have been marked by bilateral tensions that have hampered efforts to work together on key issues such as China or WTO reform, and the election of Joe Biden has convinced many that the time has finally come for a productive common agenda. This has led to numerous declarations of a new era of collaboration and “changing the world”.

But talking is cheap.

In order to build the trust necessary for a truly productive working relationship, both sides need to give up unilateralist policies and tendencies. On the US side, this includes lifting the EU’s steel and aluminum tariffs and rethinking the recent “Buy America” ​​proposals. For Europe, that means stopping the “asymmetrical” taxation and regulation targeting US companies and workers, including the Digital Markets Act proposal published this week.

The level of ambition and rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic is sky high right now. The President-elect has called for confidence in the EU to be restored and for a return to multilateralism. Meanwhile, the Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee is promoting a new US-EU trade deal similar to the previously abandoned transatlantic trade and investment partnership.

European officials have kept pace. In early December, the Commission published a “new forward-looking transatlantic agenda,” which aims to remove longstanding bilateral trade stimuli, set common standards for emerging technologies, curb China’s unfair trade practices and, among other things, modernize the WTO. Likewise, some senior EU trade officials have spoken openly about how much easier it will be to work with the Biden government.

There is certainly cause for optimism. The United States and Europe have much in common – a commitment to democracy and free markets, an urgent need to protect businesses and workers from China’s unfair trade practices, and a shared responsibility for creating the WTO. And for the first time in years, senior US and EU leaders seem to understand the importance of eliminating bilateral differences in order to focus on more existential issues.

But behind all the “happy conversation”, important things remain unsaid and certain troubling actions can speak louder than words.

To restore confidence, the United States must reverse the EU’s steel and aluminum tariffs. During my time in the White House, there was no other problem that worried my European colleagues more than being targeted by US tariffs in the name of national security. The elected President Biden has so far been silent on this issue. Hopefully, he will quickly realize that the best way to address the distortions in the steel and aluminum markets caused by Chinese overcapacity is not to target the EU but to ask the EU to join the United States for Target China and collect the rest of the US world to do the same.

The Biden government must also change what the campaign for “Buy America” ​​has promised, a policy that particularly irritates the EU and contributes directly to the decline of TTIP.

I am once again confident that the president-elect will soon realize that there are more effective ways to promote domestic production in strategic industries domestically without creating tension abroad. In particular, a solid program of targeted subsidies, research and development spending, and public-private partnerships to advance strategic industries can better accomplish laudable US goals without a transatlantic headache.

Europe must also show political courage, reconcile its actions with its words and reverse its own unilateralism. Make no mistake, a tax policy that sets Gerrymander’s size and business model thresholds to attract American digital businesses for revenue while exempting Europeans is no less one-sided than US steel and aluminum tariffs. It is no less important to remain committed to negotiating with the OECD before taking action that will seriously harm an ally than trying to resolve problems through the WTO.

The European law on digital markets, which was published just this week, also threatens to put considerable strain on the alliance. The EU is again committed to asymmetrical policymaking targeting American businesses to achieve regulation and massive fines, while using creative thresholds to exempt European digital and non-digital competitors.

To make matters worse, the EU is constantly pointing out the need for “digital sovereignty”, that this is not a coincidence but a concerted plan to protect EU champions from foreign competition. The EU’s choice to move forward on its own is also in stark contrast to its own transatlantic agenda, which proposes joint standards-setting with the United States. The EU must reverse course, defy its growing one-sided drive on digital issues, and actually coordinate with its ally before proceeding.

None of these policy changes will be easy. However, they are needed to really reset US-Europe trade and to show that the recent optimism is justified.

Clete Willems is a partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, a CNBC employee and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. His proposal for a joint US-EU WTO reform agenda is available here.

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World News

Brexit Commerce Talks Strategy Essential Deadline. Once more.

Brexit Trade Talks Approach Crucial Deadline. Again.

Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen were expected to speak again at lunchtime on Sunday to take stock of the negotiations and make a decision on how to proceed.

Europe’s two most powerful leaders, Chancellor Angela Merkel from Germany and President Emmanuel Macron from France, both refused to contact Mr Johnson directly, effectively denying him the opportunity to take advantage of divisions between the 27 members of the European Union.

As the likelihood of failure escalates, London and Brussels have implemented a mixture of pointing and contingency planning. Mr Johnson met with Michael Gove, the UK Minister in charge of preparing for a no-deal Brexit. Plans include using Navy patrol vessels to stop foreign ships attempting to enter the Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 miles from the UK coast.

The prospect of a military confrontation between British and French ships on the high seas sparked alarms and fierce criticism in Britain, even among members of the Conservative Party establishment.

“This is no longer Elizabethan time. This is the global UK, ”Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the House of Commons Defense Committee, told the BBC. “We have to raise the bar much higher.” Failure to reach a trade deal, Ellwood said, “would be a backward step, a failure of statecraft.”

Chris Patten, former Conservative Party leader and Hong Kong Governor from 1992 to 1997, accused Mr Johnson of being on a “runaway train of the British State of Emergency”. The Prime Minister is “not a conservative” who feels obliged to alliances, institutions or the rule of law, but an “English nationalist”.

Analysts said they haven’t given up hope of a last-minute deal. Mr Johnson and his advisors would still prefer a deal, as would the leaders of the European Union. Sunday was the last of several deadlines set by both sides. The talks could easily extend beyond that until New Year’s Eve.

Still, the UK’s strategy of waiting until the end of the negotiation phase and then pushing for bigger concessions seems to have failed. The French-led European negotiators were determined on the issue of fishing rights, as well as another controversial area: state aid to industry and competition rules.

Mr Johnson has described the UK campaign as an assertion of his sovereignty after leaving the European Union. The diplomats pointed out, however, that European officials have a similarly strong principle: defending the integrity of the internal market from a new competitor on their doorstep.

“What Britain has never understood is that the European Union is a political project,” said Kim Darroch, who served as Britain’s permanent representative to the European Union and later as ambassador to Washington. “You will make decisions based on political, not economic, considerations.”

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Business

A High Home Democrat Prods Biden to Reopen E.U. Commerce Talks

A Top House Democrat Prods Biden to Reopen E.U. Trade Talks

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee called on the new administration to renew trade negotiations with the European Union and contradicted President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s pledge to postpone new trade talks until the U.S. has made major domestic deals Investments made.

The statement by Massachusetts Democrat Richard E. Neal on Friday raises the question of whether congressional pressure could induce the Biden administration to become more aggressive in trade negotiations with close allies.

Mr Biden downplayed expectations of new trade negotiations early in his tenure, saying he would first take control of the pandemic and make significant investments in American industries such as energy, biotechnology and artificial intelligence.

“I’m not going to sign a new trade deal with anyone until we’ve made big investments here in our homes and in our workers,” Biden said in an interview with the New York Times last week.

However, since the opposition in Congress would be one of the main obstacles to a new trade deal, the support of key Democrats could be a strong motivation for starting talks.

In an interview, Mr Neal suggested that reaching a trade deal with the European Union would help tackle the increasing economic threat posed by China, which has used hefty subsidies, state-owned companies and other practices to dominate the industry and trade rules long to question embraced in the west.

Mr. Neal called Mr. Biden’s approach “good and fair” but argued that continuing the EU trade negotiations “is part of a foreign policy challenge related to China’s expansionist activities”.

“I think we should prepare now to do justice to China’s aggressive nature in the world,” he added.

Mr Biden would need the help of Mr Neal and others to cement such a deal. The so-called Trade Promotion Agency, a law that lays down guidelines for the executive branch to negotiate trade deals and streamline the approval process, expires in July. Business then submitted to Congress could find a more difficult path to ratification. It is not yet clear whether the Biden administration will petition Congress to renew authority.

Despite deep historical ties, the United States and Europe have not always had an easy trading relationship. Governments have fought over tariffs, farm subsidies, and food safety standards for decades, and efforts to achieve a comprehensive trade pact under both the Obama and Trump administrations have ultimately ceased.

But Mr Biden has spoken many times about the importance of strengthening American alliances, and he and his advisors have been eager to eradicate ties with Europe that have been weighed down by President Trump’s confrontational approach to trade. They also see many similarities with the European Union on issues such as climate change, labor standards and consumer protection, as well as against China’s growing geopolitical power and trade practices.

Economy & Economy

Updated

Apr 11, 2020 at 12:33 am ET

Both governments seem eager to make progress on trade issues that have stalled under the Trump administration, including Spats over subsidies to the aircraft industry and plans by European countries to tax American tech giants.

These discussions would be chaired by Mr Biden’s sales representative, Katherine Tai, whom the president-elect presented as his candidate for office on Friday. Ms. Tai is an associate of Mr. Neal as Chief Commercial Attorney on the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Neal declined to enter into discussions with Ms. Tai about trade deals with the European Union, but said, “I think we largely agree on the nature of the challenge.”

Mr Neal referred to the US-Mexico-Canada agreement as a “blueprint” for new trade pacts. The deal, the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement, was negotiated by Mr. Trump and revised by Congressional Democrats, including Mr. Neal and Ms. Tai, before it went into effect this year.

“What we’ve been able to do with USMCA on the environment, labor standards and enforcement – I think we have some momentum,” said Neal. He said he was continuing to work to raise support for using a European trade agreement to counter China’s influence around the world.

In his statement on Friday, Mr Neal said a trade deal with the European Union was a “strategically sound choice” as the United States sought to compete economically with China and rebuild its economy after the pandemic recession.

He called on the Biden government to work with allies in Europe and elsewhere to “formulate a strategic, far-reaching, forward-looking and robust package of programs and investments to defend against anti-competitive, anti-democratic influences in Chinese politics.”

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Politics

Biden picks China critic Katherine Tai for U.S. Commerce Consultant

Biden picks China critic Katherine Tai for U.S. Trade Representative

Katherine Tai speaks during a House Ways and Means Committee meeting on the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) in 2019.

CSPAN

President-elect Joe Biden named Katherine Tai, a trade attorney with a history of taking over China, to be his new administration for the United States’ chief trade agent on Thursday.

If this were approved by the Senate, Tai would inherit a critical position at the cabinet level, tasked with enforcing American import regulations and negotiating terms of trade with China and other nations.

Tai, who is Asian-American, would also be the first black woman to act as a USTR. She is fluent in Mandarin.

With the election of Tai, the senior trade attorney on the House Ways and Means Committee, the Biden team is likely signaling an intention to revert to a multilateral trade approach to advance U.S. trade interests and face growing economic competition from China.

The president-elect announced Tai’s experience in a press release on Thursday as key to key insights as the new administration reviews outgoing President Donald Trump’s Beijing-brokered trade deal.

“Your in-depth experience will enable the Biden-Harris administration to get a foothold in trade and harness the power of our trade relations to help the US emerge from the COVID-induced economic crisis and get the president-elect’s vision from a professional pursue – American Labor Trade Strategy, “wrote the Biden transition team.

Tai would succeed current Trade Tsar Robert Lighthizer, whose achievements during the Trump administration include stepping up negotiations with Beijing and introducing hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs on goods imported from China.

China’s Deputy Prime Minister Liu Er speaks to U.S. Sales Representative Robert Lighthizer during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on February 22, 2019.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

Though Tai prefers multilateral enforcement mechanisms more than Lighthizer, its leadership as a USTR would not necessarily signal a change in tougher stance on China. She said China should be approached vigorously and strategically.

“Both also have long histories of dealing with China’s unfair practices, the most pressing trade problem of our time,” said Clete Willems, former White House top trade negotiator. “Katherine’s approach is most likely different in how she uses the WTO system and alliances to pressure China to change its behavior.”

From 2007 to 2014, Tai successfully negotiated Washington’s disputes against Beijing at the WTO, the global trade organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Lighthizer and his team, frustrated with what they saw as slow bureaucracy and China’s influence on the WTO and the World Bank, often chose to bypass the WTO and take a more direct approach through tariffs. The US still has import tariffs on Chinese imports of $ 370 billion.

“As a former head of the USTR China Trade Enforcement, Katherine has experience leading and winning joint WTO disputes against China while working with countries like the EU and Japan and is likely to take a similar approach,” Willems said now Partner at Akin Gump. added in an email.

Willems also noted that Tai’s fluent mandarin would command respect at the negotiating table with China.

US President-elect Joe Biden will announce his health team members on December 8, 2020 at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware.

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

In August, Tai called for a different approach to China than Lighthizer’s year-long tariff war, saying the use of import taxes was actually a defensive maneuver.

Rep Don Beyer, D-Va., Said in a press release on Wednesday night that Tai would be a smart choice for USTR as they work together on the Ways and Means Committee.

“She is smart, knows her way around and is committed to ensuring that trade policy is right for our employees, companies and the environment,” said Beyer.

“Katherine is widely recognized and loved, but she will also be a tough and principled negotiator,” he added. “She’s just the right kind of cooperative leader to bring our trade policies back to a rational level and restore the respect of our allies around the world.”

This should please Biden, who has proposed a return to a multilateral, allied approach and a departure from President Donald Trump’s nationalist “America First” approach.

Still, in a recent interview with the New York Times, Biden said that he will not immediately lift tariffs on China and instead will weigh up a variety of tactics when considering how best to compete with Beijing.

“I’m not going to take any immediate steps, and neither will the tariffs. I will not affect my options,” Biden told columnist Thomas Friedman in an interview earlier this month.

The President-elect has refused to say whether he would support joining certain trade deals. One of President Donald Trump’s first acts of office was the removal of the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the Obama administration had negotiated with eleven other nations.

The TPP excluded China and was a cornerstone of Obama’s efforts to cement US influence in Asia. China has since signed the regional comprehensive economic partnership with 14 other countries, a trade agreement that excludes the US and covers about 30% of the world economy.

Biden has promised to go into more detail about what agreements he would support after his inauguration, but has repeatedly stressed the importance of working with allies to establish the “rules of the road” of world trade.

Categories
Politics

Biden Picks Katherine Tai as Commerce Consultant

Biden Picks Katherine Tai as Trade Representative

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to select Katherine Tai, chief trade attorney for the House Ways and Means Committee, as the United States trade agent, a key role who will be responsible for enforcing American trade rules in negotiations with China and other countries on new trade terms, according to those familiar with the plans.

Ms. Tai has received strong support from colleagues in Congress, who credit her for helping a recalcitrant gathering of politicians and stakeholders to fight for the adoption of the revised North American Free Trade Agreement. From 2007 to 2014, Ms. Tai worked for the United States Trade Representative’s Office, where she successfully prosecuted several cases of Chinese trade practices at the World Trade Organization.

If this were confirmed, Ms. Tai, an Asian American woman, would become the first black woman to serve as a U.S. trade representative, a cabinet-level official with the rank of ambassador.

Ms. Tai’s selection was previously reported by Politico and the Wall Street Journal.

Although Mr Biden has stated that he has no intention of negotiating any new free trade agreements until he has made “major investments here at home and in our workers”, his sales agent will have a lot to do. These responsibilities likely include ensuring that American trade rules are properly enforced and that they promote, rather than hamper, other parts of Mr Biden’s agenda, including fighting climate change and encouraging domestic investment, for example through the expansion of Buy American Programs.

Congressional Democrats have campaigned for Ms. Tai to be appointed in part because they believe she would play an important role in ensuring that the provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada accord, which replaced NAFTA this year, are enforced will. This includes initiating new trade proceedings against Mexican factories that violate labor rules and ensuring that Mexico carries out ambitious reforms to its labor system.

As chief counsel for the Ways and Means Committee, Ms. Tai played a key role in drafting the democratic demands for final changes to the USMCA negotiated by the Trump administration. In this role, she balanced the competing demands of trade unions, environmental groups, corporate lobbyists, and the administration, and helped craft a deal that overtook both Houses of Congress by a wide margin.

In a November letter to Mr. Biden, 10 House Democrats wrote that Ms. Tai’s central role in these negotiations “uniquely qualifies her to lead the implementation and enforcement efforts” as the next sales representative.

“Ms. Tai knows every tool available to hold Mexico and Canada accountable,” the legislature wrote.

Although this is sometimes a minor position, the office of commercial agent has grown in importance under President Trump, who has used the office to levy substantial tariffs on overseas and negotiate a number of trade deals, small and large.

Mr Biden’s chief trade negotiator will be responsible for managing much of this legacy, including assisting in deciding whether to continue to impose tariffs on Chinese goods and whether to keep certain companies excluded from those tariffs. Many of these bans will expire on December 31, and it remains unclear whether Mr Trump plans to extend them.

The new commercial agent will also be responsible for adapting the office to democratic priorities, e.g. B. to increase the protection of workers, curb climate change and raise standards for consumer protection. The election of Mr Biden will also be responsible for rebuilding trade ties that have been weighed down by Mr Trump’s aggressive approach, including with Europe, Canada, Japan and Mexico.

Supporters say Ms. Tai is also uniquely positioned to address the economic challenges facing China, which is believed to be America’s greatest source of competition in the trade sector.

During her tenure in the House of Representatives, Ms. Tai dealt not only with trade disputes against China at the World Trade Organization on issues such as subsidies and export restrictions, but also with issues related to China, including strategies to restore American supply chains and legislation to ban imports Forced labor by Uyghurs and other minorities in China.

Ms. Tai has a background in China, where she taught in the late 1990s and was fluent in Mandarin.

In the House of Representatives, she also sought to examine the legacy of racial injustice in US trade policy and how trade profits could be made more inclusive.

Thomas Kaplan and Emily Cochrane contributed to the coverage.