For more information on how these developments may affect your business, please contact Nicole Bivens Collinson at (202) 730-4956 or via email.
European Union
A joint statement issued at the conclusion of the sixth ministerial meeting of the U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council, held April 4-5 in Belgium, highlights the following trade-related outcomes.
- launched a Minerals Security Partnership Forum with a handful of producing countries to aid efforts to diversify global supply chains for critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, rare earth elements, copper, germanium, and gallium (in addition, negotiations toward a bilateral critical minerals agreement are ongoing)
- established a platform for the exchange of licensing information in connection with export controls on Russia
- extended for three years a joint early warning mechanism and a transparency mechanism designed to help build resilient semiconductor supply chains
- held the third session of the Transatlantic Trade and Labor Dialogue
- agreed to publish a joint catalog of best practices on green public procurement
In addition, work continues on other trade-related topics, including sustainable trade, electronic invoicing, economic coercion and non-market policies and practices, and investment screening.
China
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to China recently to meet with a number of senior officials on the bilateral economic relationship. According to a Treasury Department press release, Yellen reiterated U.S. concerns about China’s non-market policies and practices and noted signs of increasing overcapacity in certain sectors of the Chinese economy. However, the two sides also agreed to hold “intensive exchanges” on balanced growth in the domestic and global economies and to expand cooperation on combatting money laundering in their respective financial systems.
WTO
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued to World Trade Organization members April 4 a communication intended to advance discussions on ways trade policies can support efforts to address climate change. According to USTR, this communication (1) proposes that discussions at the WTO focus on how the various trade-related climate policies countries are already implementing can complement each other and avoid working at cross purposes, (2) identifies certain areas of climate-related discussions that are more advanced at the WTO and can be deepened and lead to positive outcomes, and (3) encourages WTO members to draw upon work already underway in other international bodies to avoid duplication of efforts.
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