Officials from the U.S. and Argentina this week signed a bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), and are forming six working groups to identify trade barriers and chart the course for a more fruitful trade relationship between the two countries, the White House said this week as President Barack Obama visited Argentina. “I think at the beginning, right now, there’s a lot of underbrush, a lot of unnecessary trade irritants and commercial irritants that can be cleared away administratively,” Obama said (here) during a March 23 joint press conference in Buenos Aires alongside Argentine President Mauricio Macri. “And that's some of the work that we intend to do right away.”

President Barack Obama will not suspend South Africa’s duty-free benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), after the nation removed sanitary and phytosanitary barriers on imports of poultry, beef, and pork, from the U.S., according to a March 14 presidential proclamation (here). U.S. meat products recently hit store shelves in South Africa (see 1603020036), after Obama in November threatened to terminate duty-free treatment on agricultural goods that the country enjoys through AGOA. "South Africa has met all of the benchmarks to remain eligible for African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits, and today the President issued a proclamation revoking the impending suspension of these benefits on March 15," a White House spokesman said.

President Barack Obama “welcomed” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s interest in a new long-term bilateral trade agreement for softwood lumber, according to a White House fact sheet (here). Both U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Canadian Minister of International Trade Chrystia Freeland were tasked with exploring “all options” for concluding such an agreement and with reporting back within 100 days on ways to address the issue. The 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement lapsed on Oct. 12 (see 1510130010). Obama also noted to Trudeau “recent legislative and regulatory action” to repeal country-of-origin labeling (COOL) requirements for beef and pork, which bring the U.S. into compliance with international trade obligations, the White House said. The Agricultural Marketing Service on March 2 completed its repeal of the COOL requirements for certain products (see 1603020019). “Canada and the United States have a shared interest in a return to a fully integrated North American market for cattle and hogs that provides more opportunities and greater economic benefits for producers on both sides of the border,” the fact sheet says.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign H.R.-644, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 the afternoon of Feb. 24, one day after House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., signed the legislation during a ceremony on Capitol Hill, the White House said (here). "Later in the afternoon, the President will sign...H.R. 644 – Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015," states Obama's daily press schedule. International Trade Today will provide a multi-part summary of the new law in coming issues.

The Obama Administration will send Trans-Pacific Partnership-enacting legislation to Congress sometime this year, President Barack Obama said on Feb. 22 during a reception of the National Governors Association in Washington, according to remarks transcribed by the White House (here). Obama called on the governors to reach out to local industries in their states’ U.S. Congressional delegations to convey the importance of the agreement. “We’re going to sign to enter this agreement, presented formally with some sort of implementation documents to Congress at some point this year,” Obama stated.

President Barack Obama on Feb. 18 signed the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, HR-757, into law, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement (here). The House passed the bill on Feb. 12, two days after the Senate’s unanimous approval. The legislation would require Obama to regularly brief Congress on implementation efforts and to sanction and block the assets of the Foreign Trade Bank of North Korea and the Daedong Credit Bank (see 1602120026).

President Barack Obama outlined reforms necessary for parties to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the White House is launching a “new effort” to help all ASEAN countries understand important provisions of the pact, according to a readout of a press conference on the sidelines of the U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Rancho Mirage, Calif. (here). “I reiterated that the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- which includes four ASEAN members -- can advance economic integration across ASEAN and set stronger rules for trade throughout the Asia Pacific,” Obama told reporters. During the opening session of the summit on Feb. 15, Obama highlighted the efforts of ASEAN member states Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei, who he said have “committed to high labor and environmental standards” by signing the TPP.

President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2017 budget proposal released Feb. 9 asks for a $24 million increase in funding for the International Trade Administration, and a$14.4 million bump for the Bureau of Industry and Security (here). The Commerce Department’s $521 million request for ITA includes $10.4 million for hiring 36 full-time employees to expand its “capacity and footprint” and place personnel in high-demand markets, as well as $2 million for 12 new full-time employees in FY 2017 to better enforce antidumping and countervailing duty laws.

Federal agencies asked for the authority to impose over $200 million in user fees on importers and their suppliers in their fiscal year 2017 budget requests. A Food and Drug Administration user fee on imports would go toward more staff at the borders and "port of entry streamlining," with the agency also requesting direct funding from Congress for implementation of the Foreign Supplier Verification Program. A CPSC user fee on imports, estimated at 0.007% of entered value, would support the commission's import surveillance office, including by funding full implementation of the Risk Assessment Methodology targeting system. The two agencies have been asking for import user fees since FY 2015 (see 14030519).

President Barack Obama will discuss issues related to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with Italian President Sergio Mattarella during his visit to the White House Feb. 6-13, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Jan. 29 (here). This week, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is in Beijing for bilateral meetings until Feb. 2, before traveling to Auckland, New Zealand for the Trans-Pacific Partnership signing and further bilateral meetings. On Feb. 1, deputy U.S. trade representative Robert Holleyman will meet with the National Association of Manufacturers International Trade Committee in Washington; and Darci Vetter, chief agriculture negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, will speak to the National Barley Growers Association, according to USTR’s weekly schedule (here). Both of those events are closed to press. From Feb. 1 to 5, Assistant USTR for Africa Florie Liser and Assistant USTR for Agricultural Affairs Sharon Lauritsen will travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa for bilateral meetings. Then, on Feb. 2, deputy U.S. trade representative Michael Punke will travel to Paris for a TTIP panel discussion as part of a hearing conducted by the French prime minister’s office, before traveling with Vetter on Feb. 4 to Brussels for further TTIP dialogue.