Jacob Kopnick

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted advisory committee reports on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (here). The advisory committees represent a number of different industries and interests, including one focused on customs matters and facilitation (here). While a majority of the committees endorsed the TPP, which still needs Congressional approval, the advisory committee for labor issues said it opposes the trade deal (here).

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is poised to require vast payment mechanisms to account for billions of dollars in slashed U.S. import duties, and Congress, alongside the administration, will soon have to explore their options for finding replacing those funds, said a number of lobbyists close to the debate over recent days. Those lobbyists offered conflicting views on whether funding poses a real challenge to passage of implementation legislation, with some saying customs user fees, which have been used to offset some trade deals in the past, may be difficult to increase further.

A group of House Democrats criticized a recent U.S. Trade Representative report outlining its transparency measures at an Oct. 29 event on Capitol Hill, urging the Office of USTR to immediately release the legal text for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The lawmakers, led by trade critics Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said Congress and the public must be able to verify the Obama administration’s pitch on TPP. USTR Michael Froman pledged to disclose the text by mid-November (see 1510130021).

U.S. and European Union negotiations proposed new offers on customs and trade facilitation provisions for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership over recent days during high-level talks in Miami, said the two officials tasked with leading those negotiations on an Oct. 23 conference call. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Dan Mullaney and EU Trade Directorate General Ignacio Garcia Bercero didn’t elaborate on the terms of the offers, and USTR staffers didn’t respond for further comment.

The South African government allowed an Oct. 15 poultry reform deadline to lapse without implementing agreed-upon measures to allow U.S. exports to the South African market, said Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Chris Coons, D-Del., in an Oct. 19 statement (here). Those two lawmakers have led the charge over recent months to slash antidumping duties on U.S. exports and remove sanitation barriers (see 1509140023).

The U.S. is prepared to negotiate terms of future lumber trade with Canada following the recent expiration of the Softwood Lumber Agreement, a spokesman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on Oct. 15. “The United States is in close contact with domestic stakeholders and stands ready to engage with Canada to ensure fair and stable conditions for trade in softwood lumber that reflect current market realities," said the spokesman. The SLA lapsed on Oct. 12. The U.S. Lumber Coalition lashed into Canada’s alleged refusal to negotiate a renewal of the agreement (see 1510130010). A Canadian government official, also in recent days, criticized alleged U.S. reluctance to hold talks, according to Canadian media (here). The lapse of the SLA could pave the way for antidumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a nearly 50-page summary of U.S. negotiating objectives in the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Sept. 23. The summary, coupled with a recent round-up of the state of play in the talks (see 1509080024), falls in line with new USTR transparency obligations put in place by Trade Promotion Authority.

Australia continues to push hard to carve out a larger chunk of sugar access into the U.S. market through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said Australian producers and the Sweetener User Association in a recent conference call. Those on the call insisted Australian expanded access, under the right conditions, won’t undermine the complex supply and price management mechanisms in the U.S. sugar program.

U.S. agricultural producers urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to pressure South Africa to remove unnecessary trade barriers on U.S. exports in comments submitted as part of USTR’s out-of-cycle of the country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (here). USTR is convening a hearing on South Africa’s AGOA beneficiary status on Aug. 7, and the window for comments closed on Aug. 5 (see 1507200019). A range of U.S. agriculture companies and associations were set to testify at the hearing.

The Senate’s voluntary country-of-origin labeling bill would likely bring the U.S. into compliance with global trade rules, with Canada and Mexico risking a violation of those same rules if the countries were to go through with retaliatory tariffs after the legislation becomes law, said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., in an Aug. 3 interview. Hoeven, the primary sponsor of the legislation, S-1844 (here), included the full repeal measure passed by the House. Both bills would cut COOL requirements for beef, pork and chicken, but would keep them in place for lamb and venison. The latter two meats aren’t part of the long-standing World Trade Organization dispute over COOL.