U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) determined Ukraine is a significant violator of intellectual property rights (IPR) protections in a Section 301 review, but will disregard the infringement at this time in light of the ongoing political transition in the country, said USTR. Under Section 301, USTR can retaliate against countries it classifies as IPR violators. In May 2013, USTR determined the Ukrainian government used infringing software and the country hosted infringement of copyright and related rights.

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman pressed Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Olusegun Aganga to improve U.S. market access in the country and embrace implementation of the World Trade Organization trade facilitation deal, during a U.S.-Nigeria Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council meeting on March 11, the USTR said in a release. U.S. exports to Nigeria, valued at $6.5 billion in 2013, include mineral fuels, vehicles, wheat, machinery, and plastics, according to USTR. Excluding oil, major Nigerian exports to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) include leather, prepared vegetables, beans, cocoa paste, spices, and cassava. Froman and Aganga also discussed intellectual property right protection in Nigeria and improved AGOA utilization, said USTR.

U.S. negotiators continue to prioritize the elimination of tariffs on textiles and apparel and wide-ranging agricultural products in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as the U.S. delegation convenes with European Union (EU) counterparts for the fourth round of TTIP negotiations currently underway in Brussels, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a March 11 release. But the summit will largely focus on rules of origin, intellectual property, labor, regulatory sectors and services, said USTR in a previous statement (here).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is asking for public comment on the U.S. dispute at the World Trade Organization over Chinese antidumping duties on grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel. The U.S. initiated consultations to resolve the dispute with China in January (see 14011330). The U.S. then requested the establishment of a WTO dispute panel on Feb. 26, indicating the U.S. does not consider Chinese concessions acceptable (see 14022710). Comments should be submitted electronically via www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2014-0006.

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman is scheduled to meet with World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo, and later Vietnamese Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung, in closed sessions on March 10, the Office of the USTR said in a weekly schedule release. US Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke will meet with European Commission Director General for Trade Jean-Luc Demarty in a closed session in Brussels on March 10, as well. Acting Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler will also participate in two days of confidential meetings with Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Hiroshi Oe regarding TPP market access issues, along with other USTR events planned for this week.

The Guatemalan government is strengthening labor domestic protection through increasing workplace inspectors and passing legislation that ensure police assistance for inspector access and verify employer compliance with labor law, but the reforms remain insufficient, said the Office of the Trade Representative in a March 6 release. The U.S. suspended a labor dispute with Guatemala, initiated through the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement dispute mechanism, after the two countries signed a deal in April 2013 that mandated specific Guatemalan labor protection enforcement. The U.S. may choose to renew the dispute proceeding if U.S. concerns are not sufficiently addressed by April 25, said USTR.

The Iraqi government is increasingly breaking down import barriers in an effort to facilitate more commerce with the U.S. and other countries, said Iraqi representatives during the March 5 inaugural meeting of the United States-Iraq Council on Trade and Investment in Washington D.C., according to a U.S. Trade Representative press release. The U.S. actively supports Iraqi accession to the World Trade Organization, the release said. U.S. goods exports to Iraq from January to December 2013 totaled $2 billion, the release said, while U.S. imports of Iraqi goods in that period registered $13.3 billion.

U.S. insistence on including strict intellectual property rights (IPR) protections in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations threatens to derail the talks, said two panelists at a Cato Institute event on March 5, as a raft of other unresolved issues continue to obstruct on-going efforts to seal a deal (see 14022504). Industry pressure on the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to include strict IPR provisions in a final pact also jeopardizes free trade principles that ultimately stand to benefit U.S. consumers, said panelist and Cato Institute trade policy analyst Bill Watson.

The Obama Administration supports increased Moldovan economic integration with Europe and the U.S., said U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman at the outset of a bilateral meeting with a Moldovan delegation that included Prime Minister Iurie Leanca on March 3 in Washington D.C., according to a USTR press release. The United States-Moldova Joint Commercial Commission is exploring ways to enhance bilateral trade, said the release.

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) removed Israel from the Special 301 Report Watch List of countries that fail to sufficiently protect intellectual property rights, said USTR Michael Froman in a Feb. 28 announcement. The Israeli passage of patent legislation fulfilled commitments the country made in a 2010 agreement with the U.S. pertaining to intellectual property, said USTR in a press release.