The public online docket will open Nov. 15 at midnight EST for comments on the “effectiveness” of the Section 301 tariffs in curbing China’s allegedly bad trade behavior, said an Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice Wednesday. The docket will close Jan. 17 at midnight, it said. The agency seeks comments on other “actions or modifications that would be more effective” than the tariffs in curbing China’s practices on technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation, plus it wants feedback on “the effects of the actions on the U.S. economy, including U.S. consumers,” said the notice.

U.S. exports to China this year are on pace with the low export numbers from 2021, with semiconductor exports continuing to suffer, the Peterson Institute for International Economics said in a Monday blog. And even though agricultural exports to China are up 16% this year, Chinese purchases of U.S. goods are still falling well short of commitments made under the Trump administration’s phase one trade deal, PIIE said. “The promise” of President Donald Trump's “trade war and agreement was that things should have been much better for US exporters by now.”

Major U.S. retail ports handled 2.18 million 20-foot-long containers or their equivalents in July, 3.1% fewer than in June and down 0.4% from July 2021, reported the National Retail Federation Wednesday. It was the third year-over-year decline in two years and the first since December, said NRF. With the Federal Reserve hoping to curb inflation by cooling demand through higher interest rates, imports are expected to fall below last year’s levels for the rest of 2022, said the association. “Consumers are still buying, but the cargo surge we saw during the past two years appears to be slowing down,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “Cargo volumes are solidly above pre-pandemic levels, but the rate of growth has slowed and even slid into negative numbers compared with unusually high volumes last year.” The “key now,” said Gold, is dealing with ongoing supply chain issues around the globe and watching the labor negotiations at the West Coast ports and freight railroads. “Smooth operations at the ports and on the rails is crucial as we enter the busy holiday season,” he said. Dockworkers and railroad personnel remain on the job, said NRF, “but there are concerns about potential disruptions.”

It’s “absolutely” possible to have a “real” trade negotiation with China, said U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai Wednesday on a Carnegie Endowment webinar. What the U.S. really wants from China is for its economy “to operate like ours, and along the assumptions and the norms that we feel are embodied in organizations like the World Trade Organization,” said Tai. “The Chinese have pursued a model that is different from ours.” Until China “chooses a path to have its economy operate more like ours, I think we see that we need to have more effective tools in ensuring that we can continue to compete,” she said. She said those tools include “a combination” of the Section 301 tariffs that are in place, plus making investments in “American competitiveness,” she said.

Comments are due Sept. 28 in docket USTR-2022-0012 for the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) to help the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative prepare its annual report to Congress on China’s compliance with its World Trade Organization commitments, said a notice for Monday’s Federal Register. Oct. 12 is the deadline for the TPSC to pose written questions on the written comments, and responses to those questions will be due Oct. 26, said the notice. Amid the U.S. view that China “should be held accountable as a full participant in, and beneficiary of, the international trading system, USTR requests that interested persons specifically identify unresolved compliance issues that warrant review and evaluation,” it said. USTR's report to Congress on Chinese WTO compliance is due each year "on or about" Dec. 11, on the anniversary when China joined the WTO in 2001, said the notice.

No "open process" currently exists to apply for exclusions from the Section 301 tariffs on imports from China, commented the National Electrical Manufacturers Association Wednesday in docket 332-591 in the International Trade Commission’s Tariff Act Section 332 investigation into the economic impact of the Chinese tariffs on U.S. industries (see 2208260034). A report to Congress on ITC's findings is due by March 15. The exclusions process USTR had in place from 2018 to 2020, plus a subsequent window to request exclusions for a narrow list of products in 2021, were “not transparent,” said NEMA, citing a GAO report in July that faulted USTR for failure to “fully document its procedures for internal decision-making” on the tariff exclusions. NEMA member companies “found the exclusions process to be capricious and difficult to navigate,” said the association. A new, fair and transparent exclusions process “is needed to provide tariff relief, especially for components and materials used in domestic manufacturing,” said NEMA. Leaving the Section 301 tariffs in place with no possible exemptions creates “significant challenges, costs, and uncertainty for U.S. businesses,” it said. “Providing relief from these tariffs will assist companies as they reorient supply chains, manage inflationary pressures, and aid in the nation’s infrastructure improvement.” USTR didn’t comment.

Trade Act Section 301 tariff collections on Chinese imports surpassed $150 billion as of Wednesday, reported Customs and Border Protection. The $150.64 billion in collections includes all four rounds of tariffs dating to the List 1 duties imposed July 2018, said CBP.

The U.S. and Taiwan achieved consensus on a “negotiating mandate” to begin talks this fall toward reaching trade agreements with “high-standard commitments and economically meaningful outcomes,” said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Wednesday. The two sides will work toward reaching accords on nearly a dozen trade areas, including trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, anticorruption and digital trade, said USTR. The U.S.-Taiwan communique is sure to further anger China, especially with its language on thwarting “non-market policies and practices.” The U.S. and Taiwan “are market-oriented economies and understand the harm that can be caused by trade partners that deploy nonmarket policies and practices, which threaten livelihoods and can harm workers and businesses,” said the mandate. “The two sides will seek to adopt provisions that promote collaboration on ways to address these harmful non-market policies and practices.” There is "but one China in the world," responded a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Thursday. "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory," and China "is always against any country negotiating agreements of sovereign implication or official nature with China’s Taiwan region," he said. "We urge the U.S. not to miscalculate on this."

U.S. importers sourced 45.96 million smartphones from all countries in the second quarter, said Census data accessed through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb portal. The volume was down 2.9% quarter on quarter but up 3.2% year over year. The average second-quarter smartphone import had a customs value of $328.72, a 2.2% dip from Q1 but a 17.1% rise from the 2021 quarter. Q2 shipments from China declined 4.6% quarter on quarter to 34.33 million, and dropped 4.2% year over year. The average Q2 Chinese smartphone import was worth $322.92, down 6.8% from Q1 but 12.5% higher year over year. Q2 shipments from Vietnam soared to 9.39 million handsets, up 3.1% from Q1 and 43.8% higher than in 2021's second quarter. Vietnamese smartphones moved considerably more upmarket in recent quarters, DataWeb shows. The average Q2 import from Vietnam was worth $366.60. That was 12.1% higher than the average in Q1, and 56.9% costlier than in Q2 a year earlier.

President Joe Biden on his 140-minute call Thursday with President Xi Jinping explained to the Chinese leader the administration’s “core concerns with China’s unfair economic practices, which harm American workers and harm American families,” a senior administration official told reporters Thursday in a background briefing. But Biden on the call “did not discuss any potential steps he might take” to remove or reduce the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, said the official. “It would be wrong to believe that somehow a decision on any next steps was somehow waiting for this conversation.” On Taiwan, Biden “underscored” to Xi that the U.S. opposes “unilateral changes to the status quo by either side, and commitment to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” said the official. The two leaders discussed that the U.S. and China “have differences when it comes to Taiwan, but that they have managed those for over 40 years and that keeping an open line of communication on this issue is essential to doing so,” said the official.