The Biden administration contacted U.S. energy companies ahead of this week’s North American summit to ask them how Mexico’s protectionist policies have impacted their business operations there, according to a document seen by Reuters. The State Department sent an email to U.S. energy companies last week asking them how many permits and applications they had … Read More

Mexico and Canada won a trade dispute with the US over cars shipped across regional borders, providing automakers more incentive to make vehicles in those nations. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s office called the ruling “disappointing.” Mexico and Canada argued USMCA stipulates that more regionally produced parts should count toward duty-free shipping than the US … Read More

One such contract went to purchasing 8,000 solar panels made by Canadian Solar, a publicly traded company whose name makes it sound like they manufacture across the border, but in reality, they mostly import from Asia—and from Chinese manufacturers in particular. Its top management is mostly all Chinese Canadians, including those who have worked at … Read More

The U.S. has issues with how Canada’s supply-managed dairy market continues to deny American producers fair access to customers north of the border. The U.S. also says Mexico is unfairly favouring domestic energy suppliers. And both Mexico and Canada say the U.S. isn’t playing fair when it comes to how it defines foreign content in … Read More

Recent events have shown that the EU is becoming increasingly protectionist in its policies and actions.  Despite the fact that President-elect Emmanuel Macron has emphasized France’s protectionist instincts for decades, they have remained strong. The Paris government, for example, reacted to the departure of the market-oriented British by advocating for policies that protect domestic champions from … Read More

The new strategy, which the Biden administration internally calls its “protect agenda,” is being rolled out this fall and winter in a series of executive actions. In October, the Commerce Department issued new rules aimed at cutting off Chinese firms’ ability to manufacture advanced computer chips. They will soon be followed by an executive order … Read More

Claims that the subsidies run counter to WTO rules are unlikely to have any impact on US policy. There has always been a latent protectionism in the US (as there has in the EU as well) and it is becoming more pronounced. Biden wants to shore up his support in blue-collar communities that see themselves … Read More

The World Trade Organization “is getting itself on very, very thin ice” by ruling that the US violated trade rules with Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs, Trade Representative Katherine Tai said, adding that the finding “challenges the integrity of the system.” The organization “should not get into the business of second-guessing the national-security decisions that … Read More

A number of free trade stalwarts are stepping down as this session comes to a close, from Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) — himself a former U.S. Trade Representative. While there will still be plenty of free traders in Congress next term, a number of those market-expanding, tariff-lowering stalwarts will be … Read More

FREE TRADE NOSTALGIA IN CONGRESS: A number of free trade stalwarts are stepping down as this session comes to a close, from Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) — himself a former U.S. Trade Representative — in the Senate, to former House Ways and Means Chair Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and moderate Democrat Rep. … Read More