USTR

“We are concerned that these requirements to localize data run counter to the spirit, if not the letter, of USMCA’s landmark digital and financial services provisions.”

“These actions appear to be calculated to send a message to workers and their advocates that any attempt to exercise rights guaranteed under the USMCA and Mexico’s labor law reforms will be harshly suppressed.”

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was named on Wednesday as the director-general candidate with the widest support, but her appointment remains in question after the U.S. told members it could not join the consensus for her to lead the WTO, according to a source in the room and other reports. 

The U.S. was urged to make “a more objective assessment.”

Next year’s targets are even bigger than this year’s targets, so it’s going to be even harder to catch up.

China has purchased more than 70 percent of the U.S. agricultural products it pledged to buy during the first year of its phase-one trade deal with the U.S., according to a new report from the Trump administration that relies on a new method of tracking purchases.

A full-blown trade deal between Washington and Brasilia is still “not in the cards” due in part to congressional opposition, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Tuesday, adding that the two countries would continue working on issues “incrementally” at least until 2021.

“We have found that virtual calls like this really can be successful. We will be adopting a great deal more of this.”