President Barack Obama unveiled an administration-wide strategy to optimize U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa in a move that coincides with the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit launch in Washington, D.C. Obama established a Steering Committee, comprised of nearly all trade and development arms of the administration, on Aug. 4 that will report to the president within 180 days on recommendations to expand bilateral trade and investment. The committee is directed to target initiatives and programs that will bolster the African Trade and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the “cornerstone” of U.S.-Africa trade, Obama said in a memorandum (here).

President Barack Obama is fully supportive of the Export Control Reform effort to usher in a “new, synchronized” control framework that strikes a balance between trade facilitation, assistance to allies and preservation of U.S. national interest, said White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough at the Commerce Department’s Update conference on July 29 in Washington, D.C. The Obama administration endorses the creation of a single export control licensing agency, enforcement authority, commodity list and information technology portal, an objective outlined by Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security officials repeatedly in the past, McDonough said.

The Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, HR-5021 (here), is an adequate short-term measure to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent for the coming months, said the White House on July 14 in a statement supporting the bill. The White House, however, said Congress must approve a long-term measure far in advance of the May 31, 2015 extension expiration in the House measure. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., introduced the bill in recent days with help from Senate counterparts. The Senate Finance Committee also on July 10 approved a similar measure (see 14071110).

President Barack Obama expanded the scope of U.S. authority to impose sanctions on Congolese officials that destabilize the country. The order, which amends the 2006 Executive Order 13413, authorizes U.S. officials to block property and interests in property that are in the U.S. or come within the U.S., or that come into possession or control of U.S. persons, while prohibiting the transfer, payment or export to, and other dealings with the sanctioned officials. The revised order, like the initial order, authorizes the Secretary of Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to enter into force rules and regulations to carry out sanctions on individuals that violate the terms of the executive order. It also permits the Secretary of Treasury to delegate authority to other U.S. agencies in order to employ sanctions.

The Obama Administration on July 1 raised the threshold for notification requirements for high-performance computer exports to 8.0 weighted tera floating-point operations per second (TeraFLOPS) from the current 3.0 weighted TeraFLOPS. Under Section 1211 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1998, exporters of computers with performance specifications above the threshold must notify the Commerce Department before exportation to Computer Tier 3 countries listed in 15 CFR 740.7(d).

The U.S. and Chile will sign a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement on the sidelines of a June 30 summit between President Barack Obama and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet Jeria at the White House, the administration said in a fact sheet on U.S.-Chile bilateral relations. Chile is the 70th country to sign a similar customs pact with the U.S., the fact sheet said. The pact will target strengthened cooperation on the prevention, detection, and investigation of customs offenses, such as duty evasion. U.S.-Chile two-way trade has grown to $28 billion since the bilateral free trade agreement entered into force in 2004, the White House said.

President Barack Obama issued a proclamation on June 26 to remove Swaziland as a beneficiary country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), effective Jan. 1, 2015. The president did not remove South Africa, despite some speculation over recent months that South Africa may be graduated from the program. Obama also reinstated Madagascar into the AGOA program after terminating its benefits in 2009. The decision to end beneficiary status for Swaziland comes because the country failed to demonstrate sufficient progress on facilitating workers’ rights, primarily freedom of association and the right to organize, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in a press release following the proclamation. “The withdrawal of AGOA benefits is not a decision that is taken lightly,” said USTR chief Michael Froman. “We have made our concerns very clear to Swaziland over the last several years and we engaged extensively on concrete steps that Swaziland could take to address the concerns."

The Export-Import Bank is collaborating with the Office of the Inspector General to ensure there is no fraud in the credit agency’s financial dealings, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest during a June 24 press conference. The Wall Street Journal reported the day prior on investigations into corruption at the bank, including “gifts and kickbacks,” and associated suspension or removal of Ex-Im officials from office (here). The Export-Import Bank plays a critical role in providing jobs to American workers and facilitating U.S. exports, said Earnest. “The stakes here are pretty high. There is bipartisan agreement that there is a tangible contribution that Ex-Im is making to the American economy and to American job creation,” said Earnest. “We are hopeful that Congress will do what they’ve done many times in the past, and that is support the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank in bipartisan fashion.”

The U.S. and New Zealand are aiming to present a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal to their respective legislative bodies by the end of 2014, said President Barack Obama during June 20 remarks after a summit with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. Obama is targeting November to “make a forceful argument to go ahead and close the deal,” after consulting with Congress, he said, adding that he will go on another Asia tour that month. Both heads of state emphasized, however, that more work needs to be done to close outstanding negotiating gaps.

The Colombian government continues to elevate labor and environmental standards, but more progress can be achieved, said Vice President Joe Biden during joint remarks with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in Bogotá, Colombia on June 18. Some lawmakers and advocacy groups have recently criticized insufficient progress on a Colombian Action Plan Related to Labor Rights, a pact put into force in tandem with the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement (FTA). The critics say violence and intimidation against labor activists continues unabated (see 14040807).