Jacob Kopnick

Australia will likely continue to push for increased U.S. sugar market access in the lead-up to the next Trans-Pacific Partnership talks in late October, but the U.S. is showing no signs of relenting in its strict position on sugar protectionism, said a senior U.S. Trade Representative official and industry analysts. Nor is the overarching deal dependent on reconciling U.S. and Australian positions on sugar, the analysts said, adding that the U.S.-Japanese market access negotiations are still the biggest agricultural obstacle for those that want negotiations concluded quickly. Australia will host the next TPP round of talks from Oct. 25-29.

The Obama administration will restart litigation in a U.S.-Guatemala labor dispute, administration officials, lawmakers and a union leader announced on Sept. 18. The dispute is the first to focus on labor in a U.S. free trade agreement. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in August gave Guatemala four more weeks to prove its labor policy and practice is in compliance with a U.S.-Guatemala labor action plan in 2013, but those efforts evidently fell short. The 2013 Enforcement Plan was brokered under the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should “resume litigation” in the Guatemalan labor settlement process under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), said three Democratic Finance Committee members in an Aug. 27 statement. USTR gave Guatemala in recent days four more weeks to present documentation before the U.S. will reactivate the dispute process (see 14082602). “The latest deadline for Guatemala to demonstrate compliance with the labor enforcement plan is fast approaching,” said committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., along with Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. “Guatemala should receive no further extensions.” Both sides endorsed a Labor Action Plan in 2013. The U.S. is able to impose sanctions on Guatemala for its failure to comply with CAFTA labor mandates, but that may limit Guatemalan exports to the U.S., said industry representatives (see 14082701).

President Barack Obama announced $7 billion in new financing resources on Aug. 5 to promote U.S. exports and investment on the African continent through aviation, construction and other projects, as part of an administration-wide effort to bolster trade under the umbrella Doing Business in Africa campaign (here). The $7 billion figure includes $3 billion in Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank lending over a two year period, along with a host of other financing initiatives from different agencies. The announcement came as the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit convened for the second day (see 14080501).

Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Wendy Cutler concluded on July 18 three days of Trans-Pacific Partnership auto trade negotiations without announcing any significant breakthroughs in the talks. The two sides made “steady progress” in the talks but gaps remain, said USTR. Through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Obama administration is aiming to liberalize the historically closed Japanese auto market by dismantling a number of non-tariff barriers, but the U.S. and Japan don't see eye to eye on a number of areas (see 14050123). USTR did not announce any date for auto talks to resume.

The U.S. and Japan will continue to negotiate in the coming weeks on agricultural market access in the Trans-Pacific Partnership following two days of talks between Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Wendy Cutler and senior Japanese trade negotiator Hiroshi Oe in Washington, D.C. The next summit is scheduled for Aug. 4-5 in Washington, D.C., said the Office of the USTR in a statement. The statement said the two officials made progress in narrowing negotiating gaps, but did not announce any significant breakthrough. The Obama administration has publicly called for comprehensive elimination of agriculture tariffs in the agreement, but many analysts and lawmakers argue that's unlikely (see 14060404). Japanese officials are still protesting tariff elimination on more than 500 tariff lines, according to the most recent public updates.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) appellate body’s rejection of Indian claims that the U.S. violates the “facts available” provisions in the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (here) represents a significant gain for U.S. companies, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in a statement. The panel issued its decision (here) on July 14 in the case involving U.S. countervailing duties on Indian hot-rolled carbon steel flat products (see 14071423). India had argued that U.S. law that allows for the U.S. of “facts available” when companies do not cooperate with the investigation is inconsistent with the multilateral agreement, said USTR. The U.S. responded that the agreement does not specify which facts should be selected in such circumstances, and therefore U.S. law is not in violation.

A group of 14 House Democrats renewed a call for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to stop incorporating reexports in monthly export data, calling the practice an artificial inflation and manipulation of the statistics. The lawmakers, led by vocal trade policy critics Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., George Miller, D-Calif., and Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., lambasted the way USTR uses Census Bureau trade data in a letter to USTR Michael Froman. Should USTR decide to continue the practice, the lawmakers threatened to oppose both Trade Promotion Authority and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) implementation legislation.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is urging China to make preliminary concessions toward expanding the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) aimed at restarting stalled negotiations prior to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) convention in November, said USTR chief Michael Froman during a July 7 conference call with reporters. Froman said China is able to concede valuable products for tariff elimination as part of a future ITA expansion deal during the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue this week in Beijing. “This is an area where concrete progress would have potential positive spillover effects into other negotiations between us, whether it’s the bilateral investment treaty discussions or other international negotiations,” said Froman. “We think it's well within China’s grasp to make progress at the [Dialogue] if they so choose to do so.” U.S. and Chinese officials began negotiations about a year ago.

The U.S., along with 12 other nations and the European Union (EU), launched negotiations on the Environmental Goods Agreement at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland on July 8, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said. Negotiators will now meet regularly to try to hammer out a deal in a “timely” fashion, said the participants in a joint statement published by USTR. The statement did not give a specific time target for conclusion of negotiations. The other 12 parties to the talks are Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland and Taiwan.