Vice President Joe Biden urged South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on April 14 to pressure removal of poultry market access barriers for U.S. exports to the country, the White House said in an emailed statement. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators recently pushed South African industry to quickly slash antidumping duties on U.S. poultry (see 1503310069). Those lawmakers predicted the Senate Finance Committee will introduce a renewal bill for the African Growth and Opportunity Act at some point in April. AGOA is set to expire at the end of September. Biden said the Obama administration wants to renew AGOA “as soon as possible,” but the South African poultry barriers remain a “concern.”

The White House is reportedly preparing to remove Cuba from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list in the coming days ahead of a high-profile meeting between President Barack Obama and Cuban counterpart Raúl Castro at the Summit of the Americas. Obama will attend the event in Panama City from April 10-11, and this year’s summit will be the first to host a Cuban leader. A White House official confirmed that Obama spoke with Castro on the telephone on April 8, according to a pool report.

The U.S. aims to pressure progress on Trade Facilitation Agreement ratification processes among World Trade Organization members during the upcoming Summit of the Americas, said senior National Security Council official Ricardo Zuñiga on an April 7 conference call (here). Panama City is hosting the summit, and President Barack Obama will attend from April 10-11. The U.S. is targeting the end of 2015 for completed ratifications of two-thirds of the now 161 WTO members, the threshold the agreement requires for implementation (see 1502240001). Zuñiga also applauded the approaching completion of the Panama Canal expansion, saying the project will allow ships to double the amount of goods they transport. White House national security advisor Ben Rhodes joined Zuñiga on the call, and both officials pointed to the economic gains in stock after expansion is wrapped up.

President Barack Obama applauded Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, for his "very hard" work on Trade Promotion Authority on April 3, during a speech in Hatch's home state (here). Some trade observers expect Hatch to mark up a TPA-led legislative package in late April, despite ongoing efforts to garner support from Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore. (see 1504030002). "Utah is one of the leading exporting states in the country, and part of the reason that this state has been so successful," said Obama. "And we're very grateful that Senator Hatch is working with Wyden to make sure that we can get that deal done." Obama has repeatedly pushed Congress to move on TPA over recent months (see 1502220006), and the president has deployed cabinet officials to also sell the legislation to Congress and the American public (see 1502100060).

President Barack Obama gave the Treasury Department, in consultation with the Attorney General and Secretary of State, wide-ranging authority to sanction individuals who engaged in cyber threats to U.S. infrastructure and trade secrets, as part of an April 1 executive order (here). The order “augments” the U.S. ability to combat those and other “malicious” activities, the White House said in a fact sheet (here).

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would "establish new standards" and boost economies in both the U.S. and Europe, Vice President Joe Biden and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in a joint statement following a March 31 meeting in Washington (here). The two officials discussed TTIP, alongside a range of security, energy and environment topics, the White House said in the release. Several high-ranking European officials have called for significant progress on TTIP this year (see 1503240062).

President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will discuss outstanding issues in bilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a summit in Washington on April 28, the White House said in a statement on March 23 (here). U.S. trade officials and lawmakers say Japan still needs to concede more market access for agricultural and automotive goods for the U.S. to agree to a final package (see 1502050019).

President Barack Obama nominated Chad Dickerson, Gary Hirshberg and Dennis Williams to serve on the administration’s advisory committee for trade policy and negotiations (here). Dickerson is CEO of Etsy, Hirshberg is chairman of Stonyfield Farm and Dennis Williams is president of the United Automobile Workers.

President Barack Obama plans to discuss the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi during a Washington summit on April 17, said the White House (here). European Council President Donald Tusk urged more TTIP progress in 2015 before a meeting with Obama one week ago (see 1503100021).

President Barack Obama ramped up efforts to address human rights abuses in Venezuela on March 9 by issuing an executive order to sanction top Venezuelan military and police officials. The Venezuelan government’s attacks on press freedom and ongoing persecution of political dissidents, among other rights violations, constitute an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” said Obama in the executive order (here). The U.S. and other governments accuse Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro regime of violating human rights by continuing to crack down on political opposition in the country (here).