The U.S.-Panama free-trade agreement has removed duties on 87 percent of U.S. consumer and industrial product exports and more than half of agricultural exports, contributing to a 17 percent rise in exports to Panama from November 2012 to August 2013 compared to the preceding period, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said in an Oct. 31 press release. More tariffs are continuing to phase-out, said the release. The agreement marks its one-year anniversary, after entering into force on Oct. 31, 2012.
The Obama Administration is pursuing arguably the most ambitious trade agenda in U.S. history to increase U.S. exports, raise international trade standards, address emerging dynamics and strengthen the global multilateral trading system, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman at the Economist Buttonwood conference on Oct. 30, according to a release. “That’s why we’re pursuing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), which together will allow us to conduct free trade with economies representing nearly two-thirds of global GDP,” said Froman. “It’s also why we’ve pressed for a binding agreement on trade facilitation at the WTO -- which has the potential to reduce the costs of customs, clearance, logistics, border measures, and other inefficiencies by 10 percent for developed countries and nearly 14 percent for developing countries -- estimated to increase global incomes by literally hundreds of billions of dollars.” The U.S. is also pursuing Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) negotiation with China, while aiming to deepen trade ties with India, Brazil, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, said Froman.
The U.S. tobacco provisions for the Trans-Pacific Partnership render health protection measures weak, likely fueling greater consumption of a deadly product, said dozens of House lawmakers in an Oct. 30 letter to President Barack Obama. Proposed at the Brunei negotiations this month, the measures scale back previously strong U.S., health safeguards, said the lawmakers. “They are a step backward from the approach described by the United States last year, which included a clear 'safe harbor' provision to preserve regulations that protect the public from the dangers of tobacco products,” said the lawmakers. “We are also concerned that the USTR position be consistent with the letter and spirit of the Doggett Amendment, which prohibits the United States government from promoting tobacco products.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) rescheduled a public hearing regarding Chinese compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, the agency said in a press release. The hearing is meant to help USTR prepare its annual report to Congress on Chinese WTO compliance. China acceded to the WTO in 2001. The meeting was originally scheduled for Oct. 4.
BitTorrent indexing sites, cyberlockers and online forums were identified as notorious markets in comments on an out-of-cycle review by the U.S. Trade Representative. Comments in docket USTR-2013-0030 were due Oct. 28
The European Union (EU) decision to eliminate duties on cable, satellite, and other set-top boxes, flat panel computer monitors and certain computer printers puts the body into compliance with its World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) commitments, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on Oct. 25. The EU adopted the resolution to eliminate duties during a council meeting from Sept. 27-28 (here).
The Guatemalan government must quickly pass legislation that ensures employer accountability for labor rights violations and a contingency mechanism for workers that lose wages in export enterprises that close, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said on Oct. 25 (here). Should Guatemala fail to pass such legislation, the U.S. may reactivate an arbitration panel established in a 2011 labor enforcement case brought under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), the USTR said. The U.S. imports $3.1 billion in goods from Guatemala and exports $3.9 billion in goods annually, according to USTR statistics (here).
The third round of U.S-Japanese Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, held from Oct. 21-23 in Washington, D.C., failed to broker consensus on some important issues, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said. The bilateral negotiations run parallel to TPP ministerial meetings that convene all 12 participants. “Important work remains -- particularly in the area of motor vehicles. We will follow up on a range of issues prior to our next round, the timing of which is still being coordinated,” said Acting Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler. U.S. trade officials continue to eye the end of 2013 for conclusion of TPP negotiations (see 13100805). Some U.S. lawmakers and administration officials are pushing greater U.S. access to the Japanese auto market (see 13101704).
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Punke signed on Oct. 21 a two-year extension of an agreement with the European Union (EU) that provides U.S. beef producers with duty-free market access to the EU market for high-quality beef produced from non-hormone-treated cattle, the USTR said (here). U.S. producers will now be able to export such quality beef duty-free to the EU until Aug. 2, 2015 at a quantity of 45,000 metric tons per year. Lithuanian Ambassador to the UN Albinas Zananavicius and EU Ambassador to the WTO Angelos Pangratis joined Ambassador Punke during the signing on the agreement. USTR Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced plans to extend the agreement in August (here).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a request for comment on sanitary and phytosanitary barriers for U.S. exports, in order to help compile a 2014 annual USTR report on the subject. Interested parties should place particular emphasis on sanitary and phytosanitary measures that may violate U.S. trade agreements. The comments will assist U.S. trade officials in reducing or eliminating relevant barriers, USTR said.