President Barack Obama will visit China and Laos Sept. 2-9, where he will participate in the G-20 Leaders’ Summit and the U.S.-ASEAN and East Asia summits, respectively, the White House said (here). Obama is expected to advocate “opportunities for American businesses and workers to sell their products in some of the world’s fastest-growing markets,” including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the White House said. Notably, G-20 trade ministers in July agreed to finalize a compromise framework for implementation of the World Trade Organization Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) before the top officials from those countries convene in Hangzhou next month (see 1607110018). The group is working to conclude the EGA this year.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Aug. 11 said that, if elected, she would oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership in office, as she does now, and pledged to stop “any trade deal that kills jobs or holds down wages,” including TPP (here). In prepared remarks for a speech on the economy at an automotive and defense manufacturing facility in Warren, Mich., Clinton also said she plans to appoint the first-ever U.S. chief trade prosecutor, triple the number of trade enforcement officers, and assess “targeted” tariffs in response to evasive or unfair trade practices by other nations. She also called out her political competitor Donald Trump for talking “a big game” on trade and about putting the U.S. first in trade deals, after Trump sourced some of his signature apparel products from China and Mexico. Clinton said that Trump’s approach to trade is based “on fear, not strength.” Trump’s campaign didn’t comment.
President Barack Obama designated David Johanson vice chair of the International Trade Commission for a term to expire June 16, 2018, according to a White House announcement (here). Johanson has served as a commissioner since Dec. 8, 2011, and that term will expire Dec. 16, 2018.
More than 100 industry organizations, ranging from broker associations to textile manufacturers, directly appealed to President Barack Obama to reconsider his decision to defer approval of duty benefits for 27 travel goods imported from many countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (here). In a letter signed by groups including the Express Association of America, the U.S. Fashion Industry Association and the Pacific Coast Council of Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders, companies and industry associations called on Obama to decide to apply duty-free approvals for the goods “definitely no later” than Oct. 1, to boost development before GSP expires at the end of 2017. “Deferring a decision to make eligible all GSP countries for travel goods, which include backpacks, purses, suitcases, and laptop cases, creates business uncertainty and delays the investment that will create and support jobs in developing countries as well as jobs here at home," the letter said.
President Barack Obama on Aug. 4 extended the Commerce Department’s authority to control U.S. exports under the Export Administration Regulations through Aug. 17, 2017 (here). The move extends a national emergency associated with the expiration of the Export Administration Act, which initially lapsed in 1994 and has since been renewed annually through executive action. Former President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13222 to declare the national emergency, and the Aug. 4 executive action affirms that the emergency still exists.
President Barack Obama expanded the membership limit for the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa from 15 to 26 private sector officials (here). The president's executive order cited a high number of U.S. government activities promoting commerce between the U.S. and Africa, broad private sector engagement in sub-Saharan Africa, and a “range of issues on which future advice might be requested” as reasons for the increase. Obama mandated creation of the advisory council in 2014 (see 14080601).
President Barack Obama on July 29 signed a biotech labeling bill into law, according to a White House announcement (here), that will supersede state mandatory biotech labeling regulations, including one that took effect in Vermont July 1, and will require companies to disclose the presence of genetically modified ingredients in food via printed text, a symbol or digital link, including a digitally scannable “QR” code. The House passed the bill, sending it to the White House, on July 14 (see 1607140058).
President Barack Obama “absolutely believes” Trans-Pacific Partnership implementation legislation “should pass this year,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said July 29 during a press briefing (here). Schultz was responding to a question about whether the White House will push for a vote on any TPP activation bill during the upcoming “lame-duck” session of Congress. The White House is pushing for the vote despite the sour political and public environment surrounding free trade and the TPP, and despite Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s opposition to the deal in its current form, Schultz said. “The president is acutely aware of the politics around this,” Schultz said. “But that’s not going to stop him from getting this done.” The House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees didn’t comment. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., during a luncheon in Milwaukee last week said he doesn’t believe a vote on TPP implementation legislation will happen this year, adding that he doesn’t support the pact because the Obama administration “screwed up negotiating it,” according to a transcript of the luncheon provided by his office. Ryan continued: “I’ve spoken to the President about this; I’ve spoken to the [U.S. Trade Representative] about this. They know what [congressional Republicans] think are the problems in this agreement and they’ve got to go fix it, but I don’t see that happening. I don’t know if they’re going to get that done, so I don’t see the votes there for it.”
The White House on July 25 countered Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw the U.S. from the World Trade Organization if the WTO goes against his plans to raise tariffs on exports from companies that moved their U.S. operations overseas. In response to a question about Trump's discussion of the WTO, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest touted the enforcement mechanisms the WTO provides, highlighting a case the U.S. filed earlier this month against Chinese duties on several raw materials exports (see 1607190039) and added that leaving the WTO could jeopardize global supply chain relationships (here). For example, that could inhibit U.S. companies’ ability to import integral auto parts and support autoworkers, he said. The issue came up on the July 24 episode of Meet the Press (here) when host Chuck Todd suggested to guest Trump that some of his planned tariff increases would be shot down at the WTO. “It doesn't matter,” Trump responded. “Then we're going to renegotiate or we're going to pull out. These trade deals are a disaster, Chuck. World Trade Organization is a disaster.”
After chants of “no TPP” swelled through the arena during the speech by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia the evening of July 25, delegates approved a party platform (here) that identifies a need for fair, labor-protecting trade deals but stops short of aligning with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s stated opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “Over the past three decades, America has signed too many trade deals that have not lived up to the hype,” the Democratic platform says. “Trade deals often boosted the profits of large corporations, while at the same time failing to protect workers’ rights, labor standards, the environment, and public health. We need to end the race to the bottom and develop trade policies that support jobs in America.” The vast majority of the platform’s trade section contains the same language as its draft (see 1607110038). For example, like the draft, it doesn’t outright condemn the presence of investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms in trade agreements, yet says that democratic decision-making “must not” be undermined through “special interests” and “private courts for corporations” in trade deals, whose negotiations should be “transparent and inclusive.”