USTR

After consulting the Mexican Senate on proposed changes to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Sunday that his government would consider accepting a late-stage U.S. steel demand if it is implemented more than five years after the pact enters into force.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin this week told the head of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development that the U.S. had concerns with a proposed tax framework crafted to pre-empt the need for digital services taxes and suggested a new approach the OECD warned could imperil the timeline for concluding the negotiations.

“We expect the president to sign the implementing proclamation for the United States next week,” USTR Lighthizer said in a statement.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will consider increasing tariffs on European products after a World Trade Organization compliance panel on Monday ruled for a second time that the European Union had not complied with a previous dispute settlement report faulting the EU for providing illegal subsidies to Airbus.

The Mexican government has received U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement proposals crafted by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and a group of House Democrats, Mexico’s chief trade negotiator said on Wednesday, adding that he initially had found them acceptable.

A group of outside advisers to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is calling for more robust cybersecurity and information communications technology accords between the U.S. and Japan.

Mexico and Canada must be informed of any deal struck in the U.S.

A World Trade Organization compliance panel last week found the U.S. had appropriately labeled an Indian minerals corporation as a public body despite India’s claim that the Commerce Department again misapplied the controversial standard when it issued new final determinations following a 2014 Appellate Body report.