USTR Issues "100 Days" Progress Report
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a two-page progress report for the first 100 days since the Administration change, highlighting their successes in this time period as follows:
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U.S. beef exports to Chile. These exports resumed after USDA certification of beef grade labeling was clarified. (See ITT's Online Archives or 03/31/09 news, 09033115, for BP summary.)
Japan's rice import quota. Worked to ensured Japan filled its FY 2008 rice import quota. The U.S. share of rice imports for Japanese FY 2008 (ending March 31) was about 382,000 metric tons, which is a little over 50% of the total Japanese rice imports.
Lifting of Sri Lanka ban on poultry imports. Sri Lanka lifted its ban on imports ofpoultry from Arkansas, Virginia, and Idaho. The restrictions were imposed due to LPAI (low pathogenic avian influenza).
Cotton exports to Peru. USTR successfully defended U.S. domestic support programs for cotton in a countervailing duty investigation conducted by Peru. No CV duties were imposed.
EU agreement on maritime equipment. USTR reached an expanded agreement with the European Union to not require additional product testing of certain maritime equipment (e.g., navigational equipment, life saving equipment and fire safety products) that comply with US requirements.
Additional duty on Canada softwood lumber exports.In March of 2008, an arbitral tribunal found that Canada breached the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement between the U.S. and Canada (SLA 2006) by failing to properly calculate export quotas for four provinces during the first six months of 2007. In response, the U.S. imposed 10% additional customs duties consistent with the tribunal's determination. (See ITT's Online Archives or 04/08/09 news, 09040805, for BP summary announcing the U.S. would impose the additional duties.)
WTO win on China copyrights and trademarks. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body adopted a panel report that found in favor of the U.S. challenge to China's legal system for protecting and enforcing copyrights and trademarks. (See ITT's Online Archives or 02/04/09 news, 09020420, for BP summary of the WTO finding certain aspects of China's IPR regime inconsistent with TRIPS. See ITT's Online Archives or 04/16/09 news, 09041615, for BP summary announcing China's new IPR regime takes effect July 1, 2009.)
"Special 301" Review on IPR.USTR completed its annual review of intellectual property protection and enforcement around the world.
Transparent ACTA negotiations. USTR brought a new level of transparency to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations by working with trading partners to prepare a detailed summary of issues under negotiation. USTR is considering additional transparency measures for these and other trade negotiations. (See ITT's Online Archives or 04/08/09 news, 09040830, for BP summary of USTR releasing a detailed summary of the draft structure and content of the ACTA.)
USTR 2-page progress report (posted 04/29/09) available at http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2009/asset_upload_file28_15600.pdf