Jacob Kopnick

Outgoing U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Mongolia Ambassador to the U.S. Bulgaa Altangerel signed and exchanged letters certifying that their nations completed the bilateral Agreement on Transparency in Matters Related to International Trade and Investment, setting the stage for the agreement to activate on March 20, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). The transparency agreement includes joint commitments to provide opportunities for public comment on and to publish final proposed laws and regulations, and includes the obligation to publish final laws and regulations in English, which should make it easier for U.S. and foreign companies to conduct commerce in Mongolia, USTR said. Other commitments include disciplines on bribery and corruption, USTR said. “The U.S.-Mongolia transparency agreement will help to improve and deepen the U.S.-Mongolia trade relationship to the benefit of both of our economies and our workers and businesses,” Froman said in a statement. “Transparency is critical to the proper and efficient functioning of international trade and investment, and the implementation of this agreement will help provide producers, suppliers, exporters and investors with the needed predictability that comes with a clear understanding of the policies and practices that are going to be applied.” The U.S. and Mongolia signed the transparency agreement itself in September 2013. The Jan. 19 signature of letters starts the 60-day clock for the agreement to enter into force.

The Obama administration on Jan. 18 requested World Trade Organization consultations over regulations that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative says discriminate against the sale of U.S. wine in grocery stores in British Columbia, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman announced (here). Regulations that allow only British Columbia wine to be sold in regular grocery stores in the province violate WTO commitments and hurt U.S. wine producers, the USTR said. “American winemakers produce some of the highest-quality, most popular wines in the world,” Froman said in a statement. “The discriminatory regulations implemented by British Columbia intentionally undermine free and fair competition, and appear to breach Canada’s commitments as a WTO member.” Froman and Acting Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse said British Columbia is a new and growing export market for U.S. wine.

The U.S. on Jan. 12 requested World Trade Organization consultations over alleged Chinese subsidies to certain producers of primary aluminum, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). The Obama administration’s action -- its 16th case filed against China at the WTO -- alleged that subsidies have artificially expanded Chinese aluminum capacity, production and market share, and have significantly lowered the global price for primary aluminum, causing “serious prejudice” under WTO rules to U.S. interests, USTR said. China appears to subsidize through “artificially cheap” bank loans and artificially low-priced inputs for aluminum production, such as coal, electricity and alumina, USTR said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released the results Dec. 21 of its 2016 Special 301 out-of-cycle review on IP infringement, which redesignated major Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba and its Taobao online shopping arm to its blacklist. The annual report included Alibaba/Taobao among 21 online markets, along with ExtraTorrent, The Pirate Bay, Putlocker and other websites that have repeatedly appeared in the USTR rankings. The report also included 19 physical markets engaged in selling counterfeit copyrighted materials, including six markets in China.

The U.S. is considering reinstatement of tariffs on certain imports from the EU, in connection with alleged EU discrimination against U.S. beef exports, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement (here). An agreement signed by the EU and U.S. in 2009 to allow EU imports of non-hormone-treated U.S. beef “has not worked as intended,” USTR said in its statement (see 09050705). The agreement was renewed in 2013, and expired Aug. 2, 2015 (see 13102316). Before any trade action, USTR will examine the anticipated effectiveness of imposing tariffs and other possible actions, including against non-beef EU products, as well as the effects on the U.S. economy and consumers, USTR said (here).

A World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel found in favor of all 18 of the U.S.’s claims that Indonesia is restricting and prohibiting imports of horticultural products, animals and animal products inconsistently with WTO rules, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced (here). The U.S. requested consultations with Indonesia in January 2013 over “unjustified and trade-restrictive” import licensing regimes for those products (see 13011114), which USTR says have been in place since 2012. Alongside New Zealand, the U.S. filed additional complaints in August 2013 (see 13083024) and May 2014 (see 14050930). Specifically, the dispute panel found (here) that Indonesia’s import-restricting measures for horticultural products were inconsistent with General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Article XI. Measures challenged by the U.S. include Indonesia’s requirement for importers to import at least 80 percent of the quantity for each product allotted on each license or face steep penalties, its restriction on horticultural imports during harvest periods to avoid competition with domestic products, and constraints on importing certain products when market prices fall below government-determined “reference prices,” USTR said. Indonesia has 60 days to appeal the panel’s decision.

The Obama administration on Dec. 15 filed a World Trade Organization challenge against China’s employment of tariff-rate quotas for rice, wheat and corn, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). Chinese quotas for these commodities were valued at more than $7 billion last year, but USTR claims that China only filled about half the total value of its listed quotas. “China’s TRQ policies breach their WTO commitments and limit opportunities for U.S. farmers to export competitively priced, high-quality grains to customers in China,” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a statement. USTR alleges that China’s administration of quotas for those products is “opaque” and “unpredictable,” and is inconsistent with China’s WTO Accession Protocol and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Although China annually announces the opening of tariff-rate quotas, its application criteria and procedures are unclear, and China doesn’t provide meaningful information on how it administers the quotas, USTR said.

NEW YORK -- Donald Trump's presidential election victory likely further reduces the chances for the approval of pending free trade agreements with Asia and Europe, trade policy experts said Nov. 9 at the Apparel Importers Trade and Transportation Conference. There also are some early indications as to who might head up trade policy under Trump, most of whom have a more "protectionist" bent, said David Spooner, a lawyer with Barnes & Thornburg who was assistant secretary of commerce for import administration under President George W. Bush. Still, the likely "chaos" from Trump's trade policy may also provide for new opportunities for positive change, he said.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association criticized the Alibaba Group's justification for why it hosts a great deal of counterfeit sales listings, in an Oct. 21 rebuttal (here) to earlier Alibaba comments filed in response to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s request for input on its 2016 Notorious Markets Report. Though AAFA commended Alibaba for filing comments reflecting public commitments and statements company executives made during the past year to crack down on counterfeiters’ use of its platforms, the trade group said Alibaba’s comments (here) amounted to a “so big it fails” defense, in justification of the high number of merchants and listings on its sites. “We patently reject that defense, particularly since Alibaba continues to expand its reach and has announced plans to grow even more,” wrote AAFA Executive Vice President Stephen Lamar in the rebuttal. “Citing its size as an obstacle to addressing a counterfeit problem it has enabled and unleashed is deeply troubling.”

ORLANDO – The U.S. government is considering how it would implement Trans-Pacific Partnership tariff phase-outs if the deal enters into force before ratification across all 12 parties, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Market Access and Industrial Competitiveness, Office of U.S. Trade Representative, Sushan Demirjian said Oct. 19 at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones annual conference. Under the deal, if the full group of parties doesn’t approve TPP by Feb. 3, 2018, any group of six countries that together comprise 85 percent of TPP by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) -- which mathematically must include the U.S. and Japan -- would have 60 days to complete their respective legal procedures to implement the agreement, at which point it would provisionally enter into force for only those ratifying nations. If that doesn't happen, the deal would enter into force 60 days after six parties that make up 85% of combined TPP GDP ratify it. Only ratifying countries will realize TPP benefits upon its entry into force.