User login

Margaret Spiegelman

Margaret Spiegelman

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

Archived Articles

Trade panel Chair Smith: A ‘new AGOA’ must feature a path to graduation

The U.S. must provide a clear path under the African Growth and Opportunity Act for countries that outgrow the unilateral trade preferences program to negotiate reciprocal, enforceable trade agreements with Washington, the chair of the House Ways & Means trade subcommittee tells Inside U.S. Trade . “Let’s fashion AGOA for the future so that it can encourage countries to do the right thing and to engage and to break down ultimately their own trade barriers,” Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE) said...

Dombrovskis: If there’s ‘political will’ there’s a way to a minerals deal

The European Union and the U.S. have nearly resolved their differences on the substance of a trade agreement on critical minerals, the bloc’s trade minister said on Thursday, contending that the most significant remaining obstacle to a deal was “political.” “If there is political will, we definitely should be able to conclude the critical minerals agreement,” European Commission Executive Vice President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters in Washington, adding that “substance-wise, we are almost there.” Dombrovskis, who is...

Sen. Whitehouse: New climate task force raises prospects for a U.S. CBAM

A new task force announced this week by the White House could boost congressional efforts to develop a tool to curb emissions-intensive imports, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said on Tuesday, promising to push for the group to seriously consider his proposal for a carbon border adjustment mechanism. “I think we’re in a happier situation with respect to the CBAM than we have been in past conversations,” Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai...

Tai: U.S. must act early, decisively to protect against China’s EV policies

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Wednesday made a forceful call for action to address Beijing’s policies in the electric vehicle sector, telling lawmakers the U.S. must take steps now to ensure domestic producers have a fair shot at competing on the global market. “Leaving these types of policies unchecked, we already know what’s going to happen,” Tai told Senate Finance Committee member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) during her annual appearance before the panel . “We’re going to lose the capacity...

Shipbuilding probe set for launch as Biden calls to hike tariffs on Chinese steel

President Biden on Wednesday is set to announce the launch of an investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative into Beijing's practices in the shipbuilding sector and call on the agency to triple Section 301 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China. Biden will travel to Pittsburgh to make the announcement at the United Steelworkers headquarters and address other efforts planned to “help protect American steel and American steelworkers,” National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard said on Tuesday...

U.S. seeks second-ever RRM panel to review call center labor dispute

The U.S. on Tuesday filed its second-ever request for a dispute settlement panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s rapid-response mechanism, this time over a labor dispute at a call center in Mexico. The request , announced by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, pertains to alleged employer interference in worker organizing at Atento Servicios, S.A. de C.V. facility in Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo, Mexico. According to the Mexican government, the company has fully remediated worker rights violations. The U.S. disagrees,...

Lawmakers urge Biden to press Kishida for ‘solution’ on potato market access

Editor's note: This story was updated after initial publication to add Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) to the list of signatories. Japanese authorities have been slow-walking plant health negotiations to open the country’s market to U.S. potatoes, a bipartisan group of senators told President Biden last week, urging him to press the country's prime minister on the issue during a state visit. The U.S. in 2019 ramped up a long-running effort to gain access to Japan’s potato market but technical...

Former USTR general counsel: RRM needs adaptations for use in other agreements

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has often touted the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s rapid response mechanism -- designed to strengthen labor rights for Mexican workers -- as one of the Biden administration’s top trade policy accomplishments and suggested something like it could be part of other deals, but replicating the mechanism will require adjustments, says former USTR General Counsel Greta Peisch. “Our USMCA trade zone and those relationships are so unique that you really have to think about, you know,...

House Republicans slam USTR’s ‘new approach’ to digital trade in NTE

A group of House Ways & Means Republicans on Thursday took a swipe at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s approach to digital trade policy, saying the exclusion of some foreign regulations in a recent agency report signaled the administration is not interested in defending against digital trade barriers. Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV), joined by Ways & Means trade subcommittee chair Adrian Smith (R-NE) and 11 other Republican members of the panel, decried USTR’s latest National Trade Estimate report,...

Lawmakers back bill to develop ‘comprehensive’ Indo-Pacific trade strategy

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation to establish an independent commission that would develop recommendations for a “comprehensive” trade strategy in the Indo-Pacific, which sponsors say is needed to counter China and to “reassert” congressional authority over trade policy. The “ U.S. Trade Leadership in the Indo-Pacific Act ,” led by House Ways & Means member Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV), would direct the U.S. International Trade Commission to study the impacts of regional trade agreements in...

Pages

Not a subscriber? You can request 30 days free access to exclusive, behind-the-scenes reporting on trade policy in the Biden era.