[CTC] U.S., Japan want ‘ambitious’ IPEF negotiating schedule

[Arthur Stamoulis]

U.S., Japan want ‘ambitious’ IPEF negotiating schedule
Inside US Trade, 11/17/22
 
The U.S. and Japan want Indo-Pacific Economic Partnership for Prosperity countries to agree to an “ambitious negotiating schedule” and plan to push for “novel” commitments in negotiations that begin next month, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on Thursday after a meeting between the countries’ trade ministers.
 
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai met with Japanese Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Nishimura Yasutoshi on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ministerial meeting in Bangkok. They discussed U.S. plans for hosting APEC in 2023, among other issues – including the first IPEF negotiating round, set for Dec. 10-15 in Brisbane, Australia.
 
“They expressed their support for an ambitious negotiating schedule going forward, with a focus on inclusivity and strong outcomes for all IPEF member countries,” USTR said in a readout <https://insidetrade.com/sites/insidetrade.com/files/documents/2022/nov/wto2022_0832a.pdf>. “They agreed on the need to table novel commitments that fit the challenges and opportunities of today.”
 
Earlier on Thursday, Tai appeared at a press conference in Bangkok <https://insidetrade.com/node/175481> alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken and said she was “bullish” on 2023, looking forward to hosting APEC as well as IPEF talks. On Tuesday, she said during a Bloomberg event that she expected IPEF talks to produce “timely results <https://insidetrade.com/node/175461>” in 2023.
 
In addition to IPEF, Tai and her counterpart discussed “other issues of common interest being advanced under the U.S.-Japan Partnership on Trade, including the status of efforts to partner together to help eradicate the use of forced labor in global supply chains.”
 
More specifically, Tai “raised the status” of the U.S.-Japan beef safeguard agreement as well as Japan’s review of its “on-road ethanol use targets,” with Tai emphasizing what USTR described as “the economic and environmental benefits of increased ethanol use.”
 
In June, the U.S. and Japan signed an agreement <https://insidetrade.com/node/174177> to increase U.S. beef safeguard trigger levels under their trade partnership, signed during the Trump administration.
 
“The new safeguard mechanism will allow our exporters to meet Japan's growing demand for high-quality U.S. beef while creating greater certainty and predictability for our producers and our exporters,” Tai said at a signing ceremony. “Last year, the United States was the top beef exporting country in the world. The value of U.S. beef exports to Japan totaled nearly $2.4 billion in 2021.”
 
The agreement, announced in March, includes a new “three-trigger mechanism.” The U.S. must hit all three triggers before Japan can invoke the safeguard and impose higher tariffs: U.S. beef imports must exceed the original beef safeguard trigger level under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement; the volume of beef imports from the U.S. and the original signatories of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership must exceed the CPTPP beef safeguard; and imports from the U.S. must exceed the total beef imports from the previous year. The third trigger will be in effect until 2027.
 
Also on the agenda in Bangkok, USTR said, was the electric-vehicle tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act. Japan and several other trading partners have said the credit discriminates against foreign auto makers. Tai, according to USTR, “noted the importance of taking meaningful action to combat the climate crisis by investing in clean energy technologies and addressing supply chain vulnerabilities.” -- Dan Dupont (ddupont at iwpnews.com <mailto:ddupont at iwpnews.com>)
 

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