The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is accepting public comments through Nov. 21 on the Trade Policy Staff Committee’s interim environmental review of the World Trade Organization Environmental Goods Agreement, USTR said (here). Executive Order 13141, “Environmental Review of Trade Agreements,” provides for environmental reviews of certain international trade agreements. “The purpose of environmental reviews is to ensure that policymakers and the public are informed about reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts of trade agreements (both positive and negative), to identify complementarities between trade and environmental objectives, and to help shape appropriate responses if environmental impacts are identified,” USTR said. “Reviews are intended to be one tool, among others, for integrating environmental information and analysis into the fluid, dynamic process of trade negotiations.”
The Senate Finance Committee and American Apparel and Footwear Association CEO Rick Helfenbein were among those who urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Oct. 18 to apply duty-free benefits for all countries and all 28 travel goods eligible such treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences. The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) on Oct. 18 heard public testimony from interested stakeholders, following a USTR request for additional public input after deferring GSP decisions for additions of travel goods produced in GSP beneficiary developing countries (see 1608240018). In written testimony (here), Helfenbein reiterated industry arguments submitted in comments to the TPSC that providing the benefits would help U.S. producers source outside of a dominant China, and that the benefits wouldn’t hurt a niche domestic market. “Productivity in developing countries just can’t match what the levels are in China,” Helfenbein said. “The elimination of duties will level the playing field so all can compete.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is accepting public comments on India’s Sept. 9 request for World Trade Organization consultations over cited renewable energy subsidies and domestic content requirements dictated by the states of Washington, California, Montana, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware and Minnesota (see 1609120076), USTR said (here). USTR will accept comments anytime during dispute settlement, but comments should be in by Nov. 25 to ensure “timely consideration,” USTR said. India says the state programs are inconsistent with the WTO General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1994, the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and the WTO-establishing Marrakesh Agreement.
The Obama administration requested the World Trade Organization establish a dispute settlement panel to review a case filed jointly with the EU alleging China unfairly leveled export constraints on 11 raw materials, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman announced (here). Those raw materials include antimony, chromium, cobalt, copper, graphite, indium, lead, magnesia, talc, tantalum and tin (see 1607190039). The U.S. and China held unsuccessful consultations on the matter Sept. 8-9, and the WTO Dispute Settlement Body will consider the U.S.’s request for a panel at its Oct. 26 meeting, USTR said. U.S. producers use the challenged materials in sectors including steel, automobiles, aerospace, construction and electronics, the USTR said. Some 90 percent of indium consumed in the U.S. is used in thin-film coating on flat-panel displays, it said. “China specifically committed to abide by fair, non-discriminatory access to raw materials when it joined the WTO,” Froman said. “We intend to hold them to that commitment to ensure that our workers and businesses get all the economic opportunities they’re entitled to under our trade agreements.” Because China is a leading global producer of those raw materials, export duties and quotas give the nation the ability to significantly affect global supply and pricing, USTR said. China committed as part of its 2001 WTO accession agreement to erase export duties for all products except those listed in a specific annex, which doesn’t contain the challenged materials, USTR said.
The U.S. and EU are close to reaching a deal on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership regulatory compatibility and customs provisions, but negotiators still expect rigorous negotiations ahead in areas including government procurement, geographical indications (GIs) and market access, the chief TTIP negotiators from the EU and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said during an Oct. 7 press call. On the last day of the TTIP negotiating round in New York, both Dan Mullaney, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East, and Ignacio Garcia-Bercero, a director in the European Commission Directorate General for Trade, said that henceforth negotiators will primarily focus on advancing areas of consensus within the ongoing text, but Mullaney indicated they aren’t excluding more sensitive areas from negotiation, either.
A meeting in Toronto Oct. 5 between Canadian softwood lumber industry representatives and top U.S. and Canadian trade officials did not yield a new Softwood Lumber Agreement before a one-year ban on trade cases expires Oct. 13, but the countries are still negotiating, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman indicated in an emailed statement. Froman, Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Matthew Vogel and Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland met with Canadian softwood industry officials in Toronto, an event Froman called a “valuable next step” in the U.S.’s and Canada’s attempts to secure a deal. “Our mandate continues to be to reach a new agreement that will maintain Canadian exports at or below an agreed upon U.S. market share,” Froman said. “While important differences remain in the approaches of our two countries, we will continue to engage with Canada to find a path forward that is acceptable to all parties." Forty-one House lawmakers on Sept. 28 sent a bipartisan letter urging Froman to ensure that bilateral negotiations over Canadian softwood lumber shipments result in such a cap (see 1610030007).
The Obama administration requested special World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body meetings to adopt the compliance panel report in the successful U.S. challenge of European subsidies for Airbus commercial aircraft (see 1609220032), and to adopt the panel and WTO Appellate Body reports in the winning U.S. challenge of Indian local content requirements for solar products (see 1609190043), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). The U.S. urged the EU to accept the panel’s findings in the Airbus case, and to work with the U.S. to eliminate all incompliant subsidies, USTR said, but the EU can still appeal the panel’s findings. The WTO will automatically adopt the panel and appellate body reports pertaining to the India case, because the U.S. request was issued within 30 days of circulation of the Appellate Body report, USTR said.
U.S. and EU officials are meeting in New York throughout this week to discuss the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here), as already contentious negotiations have recently slowed amid widespread citizen outcry in the EU and public criticisms from top French officials (see 1608300017). EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom on Sept. 23 acknowledged that negotiations are unlikely to conclude before the end of the Obama administration, but defended the continuance of talks (see 1609260023). National Association of Manufacturers Director for International Trade Policy Ken Monahan said the organization will follow the New York round, and called on TTIP negotiators to resist any inclinations to secure a deal that doesn’t contain ambitious standards in areas including tariffs, intellectual property, investment, binding enforcement, and “regulatory, standards and non-tariff disciplines” (here). Monahan indicated concern that a recent set of EU proposals (here) on technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, regulatory cooperation, and “related chapters on specific sectors” could yield weaker provisions in those areas than the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “Given the current global environment of lower growth and increasing barriers to trade, it is now more important than ever to push for an ambitious TTIP that will meaningfully boost economic growth and opportunity,” Monahan said.
Competitive advantages that African Growth and Opportunity Act countries derive from U.S.-initiated tariff benefits may fade as more countries trend toward free trade agreements, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said during the AGOA Forum Sept. 26 (here). Sourcing decisions may also increasingly lean toward other considerations, such as reputational risk and ease of doing business, he said. Despite the benefits of AGOA, Froman noted that “only a handful” of beneficiaries fully utilize AGOA apparel provisions.
Reducing African freight costs, averaging 11.4 percent of cargo value, would facilitate U.S. trade in the region and save African about $11 billion per year, according to a report on U.S. trade with Africa released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here). The USTR recommended a number of trade facilitation and other measures to bolster U.S. trade with Africa, as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by itself will not likely achieve “transformative changes” in trade and investment on the continent, the report says.