Very quietly and under the radar, the U.S. government’s premier agency for international trade is remaking Washington’s trade policy. In late March, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Katherine Tai, negotiated an agreement with Japan that aims to strengthen and diversify critical mineral supply chains. Access to these minerals is crucial for many green technologies, such as electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines, and thus essential for the Biden administration’s climate agenda.
So far, so good. The problem begins with what USTR office did next: It posted the text of the agreement under a list of free trade agreements (FTAs) the United States has with 20 different countries. It also claimed that “this agreement will enable us to deepen our existing bilateral relationship.” This would not matter if it were not for the fact that the agreement does not free or “deepen” any trade between the two parties, and it does not meet the generally accepted criteria for any trade agreement at all.
