TAI AIMS TO MAKE TRADE A 'FORCE FOR GOOD': The USTR-designate outlined a new path for Democratic trade policy under the Biden administration in her introductory speech on Friday, saying her team would aim to make trade a "force for good." "Trade is like any other domestic or foreign policy. It is not an end in itself," she said from Wilmington, Del., where Biden introduced her and four other nominees. "It is a means to create more hope and opportunity for people, and it only succeeds when the humanity and dignity of every American, and all people, lie at the heart of our approach." Tai said she was proud to join leaders in Biden's White House "who never lose sight of the humanity and dignity, the opportunity and hope, that make trade a force for good in our world." Tai's speech comes as the Democratic Party tries to chart a path between free trade and President Donald Trump's protectionism by arguing that new deals should include enhanced protections for workers and the environment. Tai helped negotiate a deal that could become a foundation for such a policy when she led talks on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement as the head trade lawyer for House Ways and Means. Those negotiations earned Tai allies in the business, labor and environmental communities alike. But while groups across the board have praised her nomination, Senate Republicans are still conspicuously silent. That includes Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who will lead the Finance Committee which oversees the USTR nomination process if Republicans retain the Senate next month. OTTAWA GROUP TO PRESS COVID-19 AGENDA AT WTO THIS WEEK: Canada, the European Union and 11 other countries that make up the so-called Ottawa Group plan to push their ideas for a better multilateral response to the Covid-19 crisis and future pandemics at the WTO General Council meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. The General Council is the highest decision-making body of the WTO, other than its biennial ministerial conferences. "A global crisis requires a global response," Didier Chambovey, Switzerland's ambassador to the WTO, said on Friday during a discussion hosted by the Washington International Trade Association. "And the lessons learned are straightforward. To ensure the availability of medical essential goods worldwide, we need to facilitate trade in such products. And to maximize the impact of such trade facilitation policies, WTO members should coordinate their practices." Step by step: Chambovey said the group plans to launch a two-step initiative early next year. The first step would be to craft a joint statement of all WTO members in first quarter of 2021 outlining a number of "unilateral and voluntary measures" countries should take, including: — reviewing and eliminating promptly unnecessary export restrictions and exercising restraint in the imposition of any new export restrictions;
— considering how trade measures could affect the interests of the most vulnerable countries with scarce manufacturing capacities;
— ensuring that trade measures do not disrupt the operation of the global Covax facility for vaccine distribution, and
— ensuring that trade measures are targeted, transparent, proportionate, temporary and consistent with WTO obligations. The second step would be to prepare a list of "permanent" commitments that could be adopted at the WTO's next ministerial conference, which is tentatively planned for June. However, some proposals, such as reaching an agreement to eliminate tariffs on essential medical goods, are more sensitive and could take longer to negotiate, Chambovey said. Hopes for the Biden administration: During the discussion, Chambovey and four other ambassadors to the WTO expressed their hope for the incoming Biden administration to reset U.S. relations with the WTO after four tumultuous years under Trump. "Every WTO member is looking forward to the U.S. regaining its place as a leader of multilateralism, rather than unilateralism, and playing a constructive, rather than obstructive role at the WTO," Singapore's Ambassador Tan Hung Seng said. To start, it should stop blocking the selection of former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to be the WTO director general and then begin a "meaningful conversation" with other members on how to revive and reform the WTO Appellate Body, he said. The outgoing Trump administration has given no sign that it plans to drop its support for South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee in favor of Okonjo-Iweala. And current U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer asserted last week that "no one misses" the WTO Appellate Body, despite ample evidence to the contrary. Yoo's uncomfortable spot: Although Biden is widely expected to support the consensus in favor of Okonjo-Iweala, neither he nor his transition team has said what he will do. South Korea could use this week's General Council meeting to announce that Yoo is withdrawing from the race, but there is no indication that is Seoul's plan. Yoo spoke with Tai, Biden's USTR pick, as well as Lighthizer in a four-day trip to the U.S. that ended Friday. But both sides were mum on topics discussed. HOUSE MEMBERS URGE TRUMP TO EXTEND CHINA TARIFF EXCLUSIONS: A bipartisan group of 75 House members urged Lighthizer and Trump to extend all exclusions from the Section 301 tariffs imposed on China, which are set to expire at the end of the year. In September, the White House said it would extend tariff exemptions on a variety of goods, including medical masks and certain electronic products, until the end of the year. But the letter, led by Reps. Jackie Walorski (R-In.), Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) and Ron Kind (D-Wis.), urges the administration to extend them further "to provide economic stability as businesses grapple the unprecedented hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic." "We should certainly examine our reliance on China for these articles and increase U.S. production, and we are actively engaged in crafting policies to do so," the lawmakers wrote. "However, reducing tariffs is still necessary to maximize our supply of PPE and other supplies while companies build production capacity in the U.S. and re-shore supply chains." Lawmakers acknowledged the exclusions were granted in part to allow businesses time to move their supply chains out of China, but they said the pandemic has made it difficult for many companies to prospect new manufacturing sites. Biden set to wait on tariffs: Pro-trade businesses are already pressuring the incoming Biden administration to roll back the Section 301 tariffs on China and others, but Biden has said he won't do that immediately, and instead will undertake a review of the U.S. relationship with Beijing when he enters office. His new USTR pick, Tai, used to head China enforcement at the agency and many observers in the country expect her to take a hard line on the Beijing government. CANADA SET TO TEST BIDEN WITH DIGITAL TAX: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is restating its threat to impose taxes on U.S.-based digital giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook, similar to proposals under consideration in France and at the EU, the POLITICO Canada team reports. The Liberal government said it will impose the unilateral tax in January 2022, a potential sign that Trudeau's government is willing to be more assertive with dealing with the Biden administration. Trudeau's Liberals had backed off a pledge during the 2019 election to impose a tax on technology companies for most of this year. But Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland dusted it off in her fall economic statement, promising to move forward unilaterally by Jan. 1, 2022, if the sluggish international talks fail to produce an agreement. All tough talk? Canada has said it will only impose the tax if international talks aimed at finding a global solution to the issue fail to strike a deal. There's optimism the negotiations could produce an agreement by mid-2021. CHINA TOUTS NEW CLIMATE TARGETS AS WORLD AWAITS U.S. RE-ENGAGEMENT : Chinese leader Xi Jinping used the last major U.N. climate meeting before the U.S. reenters the Paris Accord to tout his nation's new climate target, POLITICO's Sustainability team reports. Xi on Saturday took part in a U.N.-led virtual summit with more than 70 other leaders of major global economies, where many expected China to lay out how it would meet its recently announced goal to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2060. Some climate campaigners hoped that Xi would commit China to peaking its emissions by 2025, but Xi made no such move. Instead, he said China would cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 65 percent from 2005, boost the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy use by 25 percent, increase the country's forest stock from 2005 levels, and increase the total capacity of solar and wind to over 1.2 billion kilowatts. The U.S. was absent from the meeting following Trump's decision in 2015 to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. But Biden made his pledge to come back to the treaty clear once again, tweeting during the summit that "in 39 days, the United States is going to rejoin it." The incoming administration has also said it will use new trade negotiations to boost partners' climate commitments and perhaps even propose tariffs on high-carbon imports. Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Australia were also absent from the summit — which was only open to countries making substantial new climate pledges. But other countries came armed with new commitments . The U.K. touted its plan to become the "Saudi Arabia" of offshore wind power and cut its emissions 68 percent by 2030. Argentina announced net zero emission goals by 2050. India touted its renewable achievements without committing to higher emission cuts in the coming years. Canada promised to raise its 2030 emissions target and to boost carbon prices. Japan and South Korea promised improved climate commitments next year, aside from reiterating their earlier 2050 net zero pledges. And Pakistan, which is not a G20 member but is a major coal user, will stop coal power plants and boost the share of clean energy to 60 percent by 2030. FISHERIES NEGOTIATIONS SKUNKED IN 2020: Five years ago, world leaders asked WTO negotiators to reach a deal by the end of this year to curb government subsidies that contribute to the depletion of ocean fisheries. But guess what? They didn't succeed. "This is truly unfortunate, because the fishery subsidies negotiations were seen as the litmus test of the WTO ability to deliver meaningful outcomes," Singapore's Tan said during the WITA discussion. Colombia's Ambassador to the WTO, Santiago Wills, who chairs the fishery subsidies negotiations, will brief reporters later today on the status of the talks and the prospects of reaching a deal by next year's ministerial conference. DEADLINE FOR ETHANOL DEAL WITH BRAZIL: Today is the deadline for USTR to announce whether it has reached a deal with Brazil on ethanol, sugar and corn. The two sides launched talks in September, when Brazil agreed to extend a duty-free quota for ethanol imports for 90 days after it expired on Aug 31. There was no word from USTR over the weekend on whether a deal was reached. Without an agreement, U.S. ethanol producers could soon face a 20 percent duty on their shipments to Brazil, one of their largest export markets. Sugar groups are worried about a deal that would expand Brazil's access to the highly-protected U.S. sugar market. USTR could offset that by reducing the amount that other countries can ship to the U.S., but that would antagonize those suppliers. | 
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