User login

NON-SUBSCRIBER OPTIONS
FREE TRIAL | NEWSSTAND

World Trade Online

NAFTA ministers aim for agreement in principle by May 4; USTR prepares congressional strategy

Negotiators from the three NAFTA countries will be working continuously through May 4, when the countries aim to announce an agreement in principle, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his team are starting to game out strategies for how to maneuver the new deal through the current U.S. Congress, sources briefed on the plans said.

IN TRADE

Wolff: “Every effort should be made by WTO members, particularly the leading trading nations, to break the current impasse in the negotiations and work collaboratively to achieve positive results”

Fri, 5:21 PM

Freeland says the three countries are “certainly in a more intense period of the negotiations and we are making good progress.”

Fri, 4:33 PM

“We think we’ve done everything that is necessary and that being said we are very optimistic that we can conclude the process.”

Fri, 12:20 PM

The top stories from today's issue of Inside U.S. Trade.

Fri, 12:16 PM

“How do we make sure we are creating jobs and prosperity as part of the larger picture, the balanced and responsible policy we have [for] all the things we consider when we look at any arms sale?”

Fri, 7:52 AM

Read More News

Lacking a board, Ex-Im Bank plays defense at annual conference

Export-Import Bank officials and advocates this week made a case for the bank's mission as it continues to limp along without any Senate-confirmed leadership.

Finance Committee leaders say Commerce exclusion process lacks fairness

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and ranking member Ron Wyden (D-OR) are demanding that the Commerce Department change its procedures for companies to request products be excluded from the Trump administration’s tariffs on steel and aluminum because they lack “basic due process and procedural fairness for stakeholders.”

Mahoney: ‘Model FTA’ with an African country ‘still in its early stages’

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is still in the “early stages” of realizing U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s goal of negotiating a “model” free trade agreement with an African country, Deputy USTR C.J. Mahoney said Wednesday.

House Democrats join growing opposition to Mexican labor legislation

More than 90 House Democrats this week joined in opposition to legislation being considered in the Mexican senate that could undermine labor standards in a retooled North American Free Trade Agreement.

As downstream metal coalition launches, analysts question Commerce claims

U.S. manufacturing groups on Wednesday launched a coalition of metal users representing more than 30,000 companies in opposition to the Section 232 tariffs on aluminum and steel imports levied by the administration last month.

Trump, Abe commit to ‘intensify’ talks on trade ‘deals'

The U.S. and Japan have agreed to “intensify” talks on “free, fair and reciprocal trade deals,” President Trump and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, said on Wednesday.

World Trade Organization
  • U.S. agrees to enter into WTO consultations with China over 232, 301 tariffs

    The United States has agreed to hold consultations with China at the World Trade Organization over its Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as its proposed tariffs stemming from the Section 301 investigation into China’s intellectual property practices, but maintains that there is no basis in WTO rules for China to request consultations in the first place.

  • U.S. sets out goals for e-commerce negotiations at WTO

    The United States this week set out its expectations for provisions the World Trade Organization should develop on e-commerce, including permanent bans on duties on electronic transmissions, forced technology transfers and discriminatory technology requirements.

FTA Central
  • Korean trade delegation meets with USTR, seeks more details on steel quota

    South Korea is seeking more information about a steel quota that was negotiated alongside an amended U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, according to delegates from the Korean International Trade Association who met with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative this week.

  • Lighthizer asks ITC for analysis of changes to truck tariff in KORUS

    U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last week asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to conduct an economic analysis of modifications to tariff phaseouts on Korean truck imports under the amended U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement the countries agreed to in principle last month.