Learn Cloud 24x7

Top officials from the U.S., Mexico and Canada are close to agreeing to changes to the new North American trade pact that would allow for House Democrats to put the deal up for a vote, Mexico's top trade official said on Wednesday. "We’re reaching understandings. We’re now looking at very specific details, but I think we’re heading towards a deal," Mexican Undersecretary for North America Jesús Seade told reporters after meeting for roughly four hours during the morning with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "Everything looks like it's heading in the right direction," he added. Story Continued Below The latest flurry of trilateral engagement comes as Lighthizer works with House Democrats to make changes to the USMCA surrounding the pact’s labor, environment, enforcement and prescription drug provisions. Canada and Mexico both need to agree to any updates to the deal, which the three countries signed a year ago. Canadian Deputy Prim

A preliminary trade deal between the United States and China is "millimeters away," a senior administration official said on Wednesday. The comments add to the growing optimism that the U.S. and China can announce a so-called phase one agreement soon after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. President Donald Trump has been pushing for a deal that would force Beijing to purchase significant amounts of U.S. agricultural goods after American farmers in the Midwest have been battered by Chinese retaliation during a nearly two-year trade war. Story Continued Below An initial trade deal could also involve a rollback of tariffs that Trump has slapped on roughly $360 billion worth of Chinese goods. Another round of duties is scheduled to hit $160 billion worth of Chinese imports, including consumer goods like laptops and smartphones, on Dec. 15. The White House has been signaling "cautious optimism" that it could close a deal soon. Work in recent days has incl

President Donald Trump needs two big achievements to keep markets and the economy as glittering assets in his challenging 2020 reelection bid: passage of a new NAFTA and a trade deal with China. But Democrats are stringing him along on the first — the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — and he’s engaged in a seemingly endless rope-a-dope with China on the second with no guarantee of success. That’s left the economy as a major wild card for next year. Businesses are sitting on cash instead of making investments. Growth is stalled at around 2 percent and expected to slow. Jobs numbers are decent but far from “yuge.” And big campaign promises remain unfulfilled. Even Trump’s most ardent supporters acknowledge the president’s reelection bid would face enormous risks if the economy turns down next year. Story Continued Below “If the economy starts to falter in 2020, Trump can’t win. There are just too many people who don’t like him but would otherwise vote for him in a good economy,”

The United States and China made good progress in high-level trade talks on Thursday, President Donald Trump told reporters, despite expectations that the two sides remain far away from a comprehensive deal. "I think it’s going really well," Trump said before leaving for a rally in Minneapolis. "We had a very, very good negotiation with China. They’ll be speaking a little later. They’re basically wrapping it up and we’re going to see them tomorrow right here and it’s going very well." The Chinese team led by Vice Premier Liu He is in Washington for the first since Trump escalated his trade war against China in August. Frustrated by the slow pace of the negotiations, he announced plans to ramp up tariffs to put more pressure on Beijing. Story Continued Below This week, the two sides have sent signals they could reach agreement on some measures, even if a wider deal remains distant. “I’m not here to suggest we’re going to have a grand slam in the U.S.-Ch

Human rights sanctions and fallout from raging unrest in Hong Kong would have made a banner week for U.S.-China relations under any circumstances. Now throw in high-stakes trade negotiations as the two countries stand on the brink of another round of tariff escalation that could further rattle the global economy. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, President Donald Trump’s chief trade negotiator, is expected to meet Thursday in Washington with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He amid a backdrop of heightened tensions and uncertainties. Liu could leave as early as Thursday night, cutting off talks that were expected over two days. Story Continued Below It's still unclear whether the two sides will be able to agree on confidence-building measures that would halt additional tariff escalation. The Chinese were hoping to get a reprieve on an Oct. 15 tariff increase, but one person close to the talks said that a delay is unlikely to happen based on what China has offered so

President Donald Trump said the U.S. and China have reached what he called a substantial “phase one“ deal in which Beijing agreed to limited measures to improve trade ties between the countries. In exchange, Trump will not move forward with another round of tariff increases against roughly $250 billion in Chinese goods that had been set to take effect on Tuesday. The announcement indicates an easing of trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies after several political and economic actions increased pressure in recent days, including the Trump administration blacklisting several Chinese firms from doing business with U.S. companies. Story Continued Below In an Oval Office meeting Friday afternoon with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, Trump said the provisional deal would take another three weeks to write and would be concluded around mid-November. The tentative agreement, however, falls short of a broader deal addressing the most significant U.S. concerns over

France is pressing the United States to negotiate a settlement to a WTO ruling that has allowed the Trump administration to impose tariffs on billions of dollars worth of cheese, wine and other European exports, French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Friday. “There is clearly a risk of escalation and that’s exactly what we want to avoid,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington. Le Maire said he was meeting with a range of U.S. officials during his visit, including U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House advisers Larry Kudlow and Jared Kushner. Story Continued Below France is willing to put “all the difficulties on the table” to comply with the World Trade Organization ruling that found European countries' subsidies to Airbus violated international trade rules. “We are ready to make a clear and serious assessment of the su

Peter Larson, the president and CEO of a small medical device company in Newark, Ohio, has paid over $250,000 in new tariffs as a result of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China. And his appeals for relief largely haven’t worked. He asked the U.S. Trade Representative for an exemption from the duties and waited a year before receiving a letter in September saying his request had been granted. “I whooped for joy when I saw that,” Larson said. Story Continued Below But his elation was short-lived. After checking the actual tariff code for the exemption that USTR published in the Federal Register, it became clear that it only covered “about 3 percent of what we've been paying taxes on,” Larson said. “And so instead of getting $250,000 back, I was going to get — the hell — $8,000 back. It’s nuts.” Not long after Trump hit an initial $34 billion worth of Chinese goods with 25 percent tariffs, USTR opened the process for companies to apply for an exclusion from tar

U.S. trade officials are in Kyiv on Friday for annual talks on boosting trade and investment, taking place against the backdrop of House impeachment proceedings into whether President Donald Trump improperly withheld military aid to pressure Ukraine's government to do him a political favor. One week ago, in the midst of the House's impeachment inquiry, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that Trump was restoring about one-third of Ukraine's suspended trade benefits in recognition of progress the country had made to toughen its copyright protection laws. Dan Mullaney, assistant U.S. trade representative for Europe and the Middle East, is leading the U.S. delegation for the U.S-Ukraine Trade and Investment Council meeting, a spokesperson for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said. Story Continued Below Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish headed the U.S. side last year, when the talks took place in Washington. But Gerrish,

The three trade ministers from the United States, Canada and Mexico are set to meet in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the deal to replace NAFTA, seven people familiar with the plans told POLITICO. The meeting involving U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Deputy Canadian Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Undersecretary for North America Jesús Seade comes as the Trump administration is nearing a compromise with House Democrats to make changes to the USMCA. Lighthizer has been negotiating with a group of nine House Democrats to address four main concerns involving the pact’s labor, environmental, enforcement and drug pricing provisions. Story Continued Below Any changes to the text would have to be approved by Canada and Mexico before the Trump administration can finalize the agreement and send it to Congress for a vote. Canada is expected to accept changes to the text without issue. But it’s not clear whether Mexico will accept new provisions that ta

The Agriculture Department will begin distributing another round of tariff relief payments next week to farmers and ranchers burned by President Donald Trump’s trade war. The Trump administration has already paid farmers at least $6.7 billion for their 2019 production, on top of $8.6 billion provided for last year’s production and additional trade relief efforts like commodity purchases and marketing assistance. The first set of 2019 payments covered 50 percent of a farmer's eligible production; the new funds announced Friday will cover an additional 25 percent. Row crop growers, hog farmers and dairy producers have received the most funds so far under the program, according to USDA. Story Continued Below A potential third round of direct aid could follow in January, if needed. That would bring the total aid for 2019 production to $14.5 billion. “This second tranche of 2019 [Market Facilitation Program] payments, along with already provided disaster assistance, will

China went back to the drawing board to create a new plan to grow its industries. But to many hardliners in the U.S., it seems to be a copy-and-paste job of the old plan. Last Friday, Beijing announced a policy to upgrade and integrate China’s manufacturing sector with a “modern” service sector to respond to rapidly changing demand, according to an official document. The new plan will single out a group of companies to become “sector champions” by 2025. That echoes the Made in China 2025 plan to upgrade the mainland’s industrial economy, which has been quietly dropped from official communiques, but which analysts say is alive and well on the ground. Story Continued Below The document provides further evidence that President Donald Trump’s bruising trade war and aggressive tactics have done little to change China’s drive to dominate new technology with state support. It also underscores the broader challenge Trump faces in his attempt to tame a government-driven economic d

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated on Thursday that a deal between House lawmakers and the Trump administration on the USMCA could be announced within the coming days. “I do believe that if we can get this to the place it needs to be — which is imminent — that this can be a template for future trade agreements,” Pelosi told reporters during a weekly press briefing. “A good template.” Pelosi added that she would like to see the trade agreement pass the House this year — a timeline that matches the Trump administration’s own goal. Story Continued Below The comments are the clearest indication yet that House Democrats are close to a deal with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer after months of negotiations on the pact's labor, environmental, enforcement and prescription drug provisions. In what could be another sign of progress, Pelosi also met on Thursday afternoon with the nine-member working group that she tapped to secure changes to the USMCA. The group h