The U.S. is extending a national emergency on narcotics trafficking from Colombia, President Barack Obama told House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in an Oct. 19 letter (here). That national emergency will stay in effect through Oct. 21, 2016, said the letter, released by the White House. “The actions of significant narcotics traffickers centered in Colombia continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” said Obama. The Treasury Department has steadily dropped Colombian individuals and entities, accused of involvement in trafficking, from the Specially Designated Nationals list over recent months (see 1510160013).
The U.S. launched the regulatory process to end sanctions with Iran on Oct. 18, “adoption day” for the Joint Comprehensive Plan on Action, said President Barack Obama in a statement (here). Iran is scheduled to follow suit by beginning to scale back enrichment activities. The other JCPOA partners, P5+1 countries and the European Union, are poised to reduce sanctions on Iran as well, said the statement.
President Barack Obama signed the Border Jobs for Veterans Act of 2015, HR-2835, into law on Oct. 16, the White House said in a release. The legislation aims to boost CBP employment opportunities for military veterans by folding CBP job opportunities into the Defense Department’s Transition Assistance Program, among other outreach methods, while also directing the Department of Homeland Security to expedite hiring of veterans. Both chambers of Congress passed versions of the legislation unanimously in recent weeks, and the Senate ultimately chose to move forward with the House bill (see 1510020013). The two bills contained only minor differences.
The U.S. continues to welcome South Korean interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership following conclusion of TPP talks earlier this month, the White House said in a fact sheet on the U.S.-South Korean alliance (here). The White House praised strengthened trade ties between the two countries and urged further implementation of the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). “The United States reaffirms that it welcomes the [South Korea’s] interest in TPP. Under the KORUS FTA, [South Korea] has already adopted many high standard provisions,” said the fact sheet. “The United States and the ROK have held constructive consultations on TPP and specific issues of concern, and look forward to deepening these consultations.”
The Obama administration should release the legal text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership “right now,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a recent letter to President Barack Obama. Trumka rejected U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman’s call to release the text within a month (see 1510130021). “When there is such good news to share, there is no need for secrecy. If TPP will do for the American middle class all that USTR claims, releasing the text would be the single best way to prove that,” said Trumka in the letter. “Creating a level playing field for American workers includes equal access to information, and the only way to ensure that is to ensure that all Americans have equal access to the text – not in 30 days, after the public relations spin has been spun, but right now.”
President Barack Obama signed into law on Sept. 30 a “clean” continuing resolution, an amendment to HR-719 (here), only hours before federal government funding was set to lapse on Sept. 30 at midnight. The stopgap measure keeps fiscal year 2015 funding in place through Dec. 11. The Senate decisively passed the bill on Sept. 30 in the morning (see 1509300021), and the House followed suit later in the day.
The U.S. and China agreed to a range of trade-related commitments following Chinese President Xi Jinping visit to the U.S. over recent days, the White House said. The two countries will “enact nearly complete bans on ivory import and export, including significant and timely restrictions on the import of ivory as hunting trophies, and to take significant and timely steps to halt the domestic commercial trade of ivory,” said the White House in a memo (here), which said the U.S. and China will collaborate to meet that goal through training, information sharing and other methods. The two countries also agreed to “improve approval processes” for agricultural biotechnology products, the White House said in a separate release. Xi’s visit spurred an outcry among lawmakers over sluggish Chinese approvals for U.S. exports (see 1509180010). China and the U.S. pledged, as well, to strengthen intellectual property rights and combat trade secrets theft.
President Barack Obama expressed confidence that Congress will ultimately dismantle the Cuban trade embargo in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 28. The embargo “should not be in place anymore,” said Obama. “Change won’t come overnight to Cuba, but I’m confident that openness, not coercion, will support the reforms and better the life the Cuban people deserve, just as I believe that Cuba will find its success,” he said. The Obama administration recently unveiled new measures to ease trade and financial ties with Cuba.
The U.S. should take advantage of a series of meetings with Indian officials to pressure the country to break down its barriers to foreign investment, said the Alliance for Fair Trade with India in a Sept. 22 letter (here) to President Barack Obama. The letter urged Obama to tackle Indian investment barriers during his tentatively-planned Sept. 28 meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “India must begin to put in place policies that provide legal and regulatory certainty for U.S. companies seeking to invest in the market,” said the letter. “Imposing barriers like forced localization measures, excessively high tariffs, and unnecessary regulations discourage globally competitive U.S. industries from participating fully in India's economy, which would enable these sectors to spur domestic growth.” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman met with the Indian Commerce Minister in recent days (see 1509210011). Lawmakers spelled out a range of problematic Indian trade barriers to Obama administration officials in the lead-up to U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue on Sept. 22 in Washington (see 1509240029).
The top trade officials from Trans-Pacific Partnership countries will likely meet "sometime in the next several weeks" to hammer out the final outstanding issues in the pact, President Barack Obama told an audience at the Business Roundtable on Sept. 16. A conclusion to the talks could come by the end of the year, Obama said. "They have the opportunity to close the deal. Most chapters have been completed at this point," he said. The 12 negotiating partners failed to lock down a deal in Maui at the end of July, but advocates touted significant progress (see 1508100011).