WASHINGTON – The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has convened four public hearings and received written comments to inform the development of trade and investment policy initiatives that promote supply chain resilience.
USTR initiated its request for public comment through a Federal Register notice published in March. In outlining a new trade policy vision, the notice explained that resilient supply chains provide a range of sourcing options; adapt, rebound, and recover with agility following shocks; uphold labor rights and environmental protections; and strengthen the U.S. manufacturing base and workforce.
To help achieve these objectives, the notice sought information on developing sector-specific policy tools, strengthening domestic manufacturing and services, collaborating with like-minded trading partners and allies, and measuring resilience, among other topics.
Over the course of May, USTR received testimony from 84 witnesses in Washington, D.C.; St. Paul, Minnesota; and New York, New York, as well as virtually. The comment docket, which closed June 4, is public and contains nearly 300 submissions from a wide range of stakeholders, including labor unions and labor rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), think tanks, environmental NGOs, and companies and trade associations, as well as foreign governments.
“We are grateful to all stakeholders who participated in this public comment process at this inflection point in the development of U.S. trade policy,” said Ambassador Katherine Tai. “To drive supply chain resilience, we must reevaluate earlier policy approaches and think creatively and strategically. Gathering and evaluating public input is a major part of that process as the Biden-Harris Administration continues to use trade to benefit all Americans.”
“Because supply chain resilience is such a challenging and wide-ranging area of trade policy, we value this opportunity to engage with stakeholders and to understand their concerns and expertise,” said USTR Special Counsel Victor Ban, who chaired the hearings. “We look forward to reviewing the written submissions and revisiting the hearing testimony as we consider new policy tools and approaches.”
USTR expects to synthesize the public comments over the coming months and release additional information to the public here.
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