The International Trade Commission determined Oct. 24 that US producers are being materially injured by reason of imports of freight rail couplers and parts from Mexico that the Commerce Department found are sold in the United States at less than fair value.

Negotiators on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework reported progress was made at the sixth round of talks in Malaysia, but no agreements were reached, even as the Administration hopes to substantially wrap up a deal before the end of this year. IPEF countries continued to make progress on negotiations towards high-standard outcomes under Pillars I (Trade), III (Clean Economy) and IV (Fair Economy), according to a joint readout from the US Trade Representative’s Office and Commerce Department.

The House is returning to work on legislation after Republicans approved conservative Rep. Mike Johnson (La) as House Speaker. The vote to approve Rep. Johnson, who has been in office less than seven years, came after weeks of upheaval among House Republicans following the surprise decision to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) from the Speaker’s chair.

A group of Senate Republicans are calling on the Administration to confront China’s growing footprint in the US financial system and global payments market. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the senators urged the Administration to "closely examine the infiltration of Chinese payments networks into the United States, ensure payment providers are not disadvantaged by China’s disregard for international agreements and conduct a review of any potential gaps in US sanction authority created by Beijing’s expansion of its Cross-Border Interbank Payment System."

The US international goods trade deficit was $85.8 billion in September, up $1.1 billion from $84.6 billion in August, according to a Commerce Department advance report released Oct. 26.

Geneva – The World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body Oct. 26 gave a green signal for establishing a panel to rule against the imposition of US antidumping duties on imported oil country tubular goods from Argentina. At a DSB meeting Oct. 26, Argentina pressed ahead with its second request for establishing a panel against Washington’s antidumping duties on imported oil country tubular goods from Argentina. Though the United States expressed disappointment with the Argentinean second request, it could not prevent the establishment of a panel.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met Oct. 26 with Germany's Minister for Digital Policy and Transportation Volker Wissing to discuss digital trade. The two spoke on "the importance of the transatlantic economic and cybersecurity relationship," per a Commerce Department press release. The leaders also discussed artificial intelligence and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

The bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) held a hearing last week on forced labor in China’s seafood industry and how seafood caught and processed with forced labor ends up in the U.S. supply chains. The CECC’s Chairs, Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) were joined at the hearing by Commissioner Thea Lee, the Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs at the Department of Labor.  In his opening statement Mr. Smith cited the work of The Outlaw Ocean Project whose reporting exposed a “disconcerting pattern of People’s Republic of China (PRC) based companies exploiting the forced labor of Uyghurs and North Koreans to process substantial quantities of seafood destined for the U.S. market.

The European Commission is stepping up efforts to make sure that sensitive technologies do not fall into the wrong hands, by paving the way for better coordination of export controls at EU level.  Under the EU’s Dual-Use Regulation, Member States have the opportunity to coordinate their export controls on items for which export controls have not been agreed multilaterally.

An Oct. 25 Congressional Research Service document, entitled "Worker Rights Provisions in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)," lays out an argument for FTAs as a way of improving standards for workers around the globe. The document details past agreements, like 1994's NAFTA, TPA-2002 and USMCA and explains how the agreements have protected workers in the regions they covered.

Senator Mike Crapo (R-Iowa) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced the Protect Our Bases Act Oct. 24. The bill is aimed at screening foreign land purchases near sensitive military and intelligence sites. The new bill would require agencies represented on CIFUS to keep updated annually their records of potentially sensitive sites. Furthermore, CIFUS must "submit an annual report to Congress certifying the completion of such reviews and the accuracy of its real estate listings," according to the release.

The United States has asked Mexico to review whether workers at Tecnología Modificada S.A. de C.V., in Nuevo Laredo, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.  The facility produces remanufactured automotive parts.   The request, made in response to a petition, marks the sixteenth time the United States has formally invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

On November 6, 2023, Assistant Secretary for Export Administration Thea D. Rozman Kendler will conduct a public briefing on the two interim final rules and one final rule: “Implementation of Additional Export Controls: Certain Advanced Computing Items; Supercomputer and Semiconductor End Use; Updates and Corrections” and “Export Controls on Semiconductor Manufacturing Items,” which were both filed for public inspection at the Federal Register on October 18, 2023. BIS published an associated final rule, “Entity List Additions,” in the Federal Register on October 19, 2023.

Rep. Mike Gallagher aimed his lance at the Ivory Tower, in a speech Monday to the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Universities, urging the leaders to share his appreciation of the Chinese threat. Mr. Gallagher decried university administrators' perceived indifference to CCP surveillance and intimidation, an ill-regulated flow of expertise overseas, and the role of US Capital in accelerating Chinese military innovation.

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced Monday that the United States has asked Mexico to review whether workers at the Asiaway Automotive Components Mexico facility in San Luis Potosiare being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Asiaway Automotive Components Mexico performs die casting and machining of aluminum parts for "Tier One" suppliers such as Magna, Cummins, and Robert Bosch, as well as General Motors and BMW. The plant opened in June of 2023 and employs 300 workers.   Parent company Ningbo Asiaway Automotive Components Co.,Ltd is a privately held company based in Ningbo, an industrial hub near Shanghai. 

There is a wide disparity among countries when it comes to access to COVID-19 testing and medicines, largely based on income, the International Trade Commission found in its highly-anticipated report released yesterday. Other key factors affecting demand and availability including access to intellectual property, prices and affordability, regulatory approvals, healthcare infrastructure and the healthcare priorities of governments, according to the report.

Customs and Border Protection will continue to block illegally harvested timber imports from a Peruvian exporter at the direction of the US Trade Representative’s Office. The Interagency Committee on Trade in Timber Products from Peru has directed CBP to continue to block any timber imports from Inversiones La Oroza SRL, a Peruvian exporter, based on illegally harvested timber found in its supply chain.

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala announced the appointment yesterday of Johanna Hill of El Salvador as a new Deputy DG.  Ms. Hill fills the vacancy left following the departure of Anabel González of Costa Rica, who served as DDG for two years.

The leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party are expanding their investigation into US venture capital firms investing in China’s high technology by launching an inquiry into Sequoia Capital and Sequoia Capital China. Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc) and ranking Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill) are seeking information about Sequoia's investments into PRC artificial intelligence, semiconductor and quantum computing companies, as well as the announced split.

Bipartisan, bicameral legislation to relieve the double-taxation of investments between the United States and Taiwan has been introduced by the leaders of the two Congressional tax-writing …