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Margaret Spiegelman

Margaret Spiegelman

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

Archived Articles

German industry group calls for EU-U.S. regulatory deal on capital goods

A mechanical engineering association representing thousands of companies in Germany and Europe is pressing the U.S. and the European Union to negotiate a deal to cut red tape involving procedures required to certify machinery and industrial equipment for export into the two markets. VDMA, the Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers Association, outlined a proposal to expand mutual recognition of their respective conformity assessment bodies in March 27 letters to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, European Commission Executive...

Lange: The EU is ‘ready,’ if needed, to react to Trump’s trade plans

BRUSSELS -- The European Union has a “full-fledged” trade toolbox ready, if needed, to defend against policies anticipated under a possible second Trump administration, the EU’s top trade lawmaker said last week. In an interview on Thursday, European Parliament Committee on International Trade Chair Bernd Lange said the EU would be better prepared to react to Trump’s trade policies should the former president win in November. He cited a series of tools developed in response to Trump’s first term. “This...

A CMA in sight? The EU’s top trade lawmaker is ‘quite a bit optimistic’

BRUSSELS -- European Parliament Trade Committee Chair Bernd Lange is hopeful that the U.S. and the European Union will find a way forward on labor and environment issues that have been holding up a deal on critical minerals, he tells Inside U.S. Trade . The bloc has been resisting a push by the U.S. to create an enforcement tool modeled on the rapid-response mechanism in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement – an approach not in line with EU practice, officials have said...

Rep. Banks calls for Section 232 probe into EVs and their components

A Republican member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party is pressing the Biden administration to open a national security probe into imports of electric vehicles and their components, including batteries. Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), who is running unopposed in the Republican primary for Sen. Mike Braun’s (R-IN) Senate seat, called for an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 in a March 15 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. While expressing strong...

Official: ‘Revived’ U.S.-Canada regulatory forum will help ease trade

A top Canadian official is spearheading an effort to revive a dormant U.S.-Canada council for regulatory cooperation, she tells Inside U.S. Trade , calling it an “ideal forum” to address trade irritants before they devolve into disputes. The U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council, established in 2011 under the Obama and Stephen Harper administrations, “provides a forum for stakeholders, including industry, consumers, and non-government organizations, to discuss regulatory barriers and identify opportunities for regulatory cooperation between the United States and Canada,” according...

Analyst: Mexico has bolstered corn case by invoking exceptions

Mexico is invoking several exceptions in response to U.S. claims that the country’s policies toward genetically engineered corn run afoul of sanitary and phytosanitary provisions in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, likely bolstering an otherwise difficult-to-win case, an analyst tells Inside U.S. Trade . The USMCA Secretariat last week released a copy of Mexico’s first written submission to the USMCA panel adjudicating the dispute, launched last year by the U.S. over a decree by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that banned...

Advisory panel urges Commerce to press EU on PFAS regs’ trade implications

An environmental industry advisory panel has alerted the Commerce Department about proposed European restrictions on a class of chemicals with wide-ranging applications, saying the measures are overly broad and urging the agency to engage with EU authorities about possible revisions to reduce trade and supply chain impacts. The proposed restrictions – advanced last year by Germany and the Netherlands with support from Norway, Sweden and Denmark and under review by the European Commission – would largely ban the use of...

Senators introduce bill to reimpose Section 232 tariffs on Mexican steel

A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday introduced legislation to reinstitute national security tariffs on steel imports from Mexico to address what they contend is a “surge” of steel products coming into the U.S. The “ Stop Mexico’s Steel Surge Act ,” introduced by Senate Finance Committee member Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), follows a series of letters by the lawmakers and their colleagues to top Biden administration officials about concerns related to steel imports from Mexico,...

ITC notifies WTO of safeguard investigation into polyester fiber

The U.S. International Trade Commission is launching a global safeguard probe into fine denier polyester staple fiber, according to a notice filed by the U.S. at the World Trade Organization. The U.S. on Monday notified the WTO’s Committee on Safeguards that the commission had initiated the probe following a Feb. 28 petition by three domestic producers seeking relief under sections 201 and 202 of the Trade Act of 1974. Fine denier polyester staple fiber is a synthetic material resembling cotton...

Commerce sets preliminary CVD rates on aluminum extrusions from four countries

Aluminum extrusions imported from China, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey benefit from unfair subsidies, the Commerce Department has found in a preliminary determination. The department last year launched antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into aluminum extrusions from the four countries, along with antidumping probes covering 10 additional countries, following petitions by a coalition of domestic producers and the United Steelworkers. According to the petitioners, U.S. producers of extruded aluminum – used in cars, appliances, window frames and a range of other...

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