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Margaret Spiegelman

Margaret Spiegelman

Margaret Spiegelman is an associate editor with Inside U.S. Trade.

Archived Articles

Vietnam: Market-economy status shouldn’t require a ‘perfect score’

The Commerce Department should not judge Vietnam against an “idealized version” of a market economy, representatives for the country told the agency on Wednesday, arguing that Hanoi’s economy is more open than others Commerce has upgraded from non-market economy status. The department has been assessing whether to graduate Vietnam to market-economy status following a petition last year by Hanoi in the context of antidumping orders on Vietnamese raw honey imports. During a May 8 public hearing as part of that...

Analysts: Mexico’s corn policy could expand ‘premium’ non-GE market

Mexico’s restrictions on genetically engineered corn offer expanded market opportunities for “premium” non-GE corn, according to analysts who say Washington’s trade claims about those policies overlook potential benefits to producers willing to meet that demand. The U.S. last year launched a dispute under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement over a decree issued by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that banned the use of genetically modified corn to make tortillas and dough and called for it to be phased out from other...

Analysts: What we talk about when we talk about digital trade

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s decision last October to withdraw support for U.S. negotiating positions on key digital trade principles at the World Trade Organization has sparked praise and criticism from different corners – and surfaced competing contentions about whether and how digital trade is, at its heart, really about trade. When USTR withdrew those positions – on cross-border data flows, data localization, source code and nondiscrimination – the agency cited a need to ensure the U.S. had...

Treasury issues final EV tax credit rule with new minerals tracing test

The Biden administration has finalized guidance on electric vehicle tax credit rules crafted to lessen dependencies on China, adding a minerals tracing test and easing a rule for graphite as producers adjust their supply chains. A final rule issued by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service, set to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, addresses critical minerals and battery sourcing requirements added to U.S. electric vehicle tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. It comes along...

U.S. slams Mexico for ‘after-the-fact attempt’ to justify GE corn policy

Mexico has not demonstrated that its restrictions on genetically engineered corn are rooted in valid food safety concerns, the U.S. says in a new submission to a U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement dispute settlement panel, charging that the country failed to conduct a risk assessment before implementing the measures and is relying on “dubious” studies to defend them. The U.S. submission , dated April 2 and filed publicly this week, is the latest volley in a dispute over a 2023 decree by Mexican...

Commerce outlines plan for hearing on Vietnam market status review

Various U.S. industry and labor representatives are set to spar with Vietnamese government representatives and others backing Hanoi’s bid to jettison its non-market economy status during a public hearing next week, the Commerce Department announced on Tuesday. A filing on the organization of the hearing , set for May 8, states that the Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, represented by Steptoe LLP, will be joined by Samsung Electronics America, Inc., in support of reclassifying Vietnam as a market economy...

USTR official: U.S. assessing Mexico’s new tariffs as steel talks continue

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is evaluating whether higher tariffs and updated regulations recently issued by Mexico could help address Washington’s concerns that third-country producers are routing steel and aluminum products through the country to evade U.S. tariffs, according to a senior USTR official. At the same time, the official told Inside U.S. Trade , the U.S. is continuing to press Mexico to reinstitute an export monitoring system to manage what U.S. officials have described as a surge...

First RRM panel sides with Mexico, citing lack of jurisdiction

The first-ever dispute settlement panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s novel rapid-response labor mechanism has sided with Mexico, concluding that the panel does not have jurisdiction to rule on a labor dispute that predates the agreement’s entry into force, the Mexican government announced on Friday. According to an informal translation of a statement by Mexico’s Economy and Labor ministries, the panel “determined that they did not have jurisdiction to rule on the denial of union rights” at the San Martín mine,...

U.S. companies seek AD, CV duties on solar imports from four countries

Domestic manufacturers are calling on the Commerce Department to initiate antidumping and countervailing probes into imports of solar cells and modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, the latest step in a years-long effort by U.S. producers to counter what they say are unfairly traded imports by Chinese-owned and headquartered companies. The “American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee,” a group that includes U.S. producers Convalt Energy, First Solar, Inc., Hanwha Q CELLS USA, Inc. and Mission Solar Energy LLC,...

Former AUSTR: RRM case could illuminate broader enforcement plan

A dispute between the U.S. and Mexico over how to remediate worker rights’ violations at a Mexican call center could shed light on how the Biden administration plans to enforce developing trade arrangements with other partners, former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Labor Affairs Josh Kagan tells Inside U.S. Trade . Kagan, who over the past several years played a leading role in implementing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s novel rapid-response mechanism, says the call center dispute is notable among the 22...

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