The Obama Administration published the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) action plan provided to the government of Bangladesh for the possible reinstatement of its trade benefits, according to a joint statement by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the Department of Labor and State Department. USTR, which had previously discussed the plan only in broad outlines (see 13071613), said that making the action plan public was “a means to reinforce and support the efforts of all international stakeholders to promote improved worker rights and worker safety in Bangladesh.” The joint statement also said that the U.S. would join forces with the European Union, Bangladesh and the International Labor Organization (ILO) to implement goals from the Sustainability Compact, which are broadly consistent with the published GSP Action Plan.

The newly inducted United State Trade Representative (USTR) head Michael Froman testified before the House Ways and Means Committee July 18, facing questions across the broad spectrum of U.S. trade involvement. Led by Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., the lawmakers placed particular emphasis on the need to conclude negotiations this year on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Negotiations to expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) in Geneva were suspended on July 17 because of China’s reluctance to cut duties, U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman said. Froman said that “a diverse group of Members participating in the negotiations” had determined that China’s current position made further progress impossible (here). "We are hopeful that China will carefully consider the concerns it heard this week from many of its negotiating partners, and revise its position in a way that will allow the prompt resumption of the negotiations.”

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke reiterated various concerns about the European Union’s trade barriers, including high tariff protection and non-tariff barriers, in remarks to the World Trade Organization’s World Trade Policy Review of the EU on July 16. Despite the recent conclusion of the first round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Punke emphasized that several concerns still remain regarding EU trade and investment policies.

Following the fifth round of U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) talks last week, USTR head Michael Froman praised bilateral progress in a July 12 press release. The S&ED aims to enhance mutual economic ties. The talks took place in Washington D.C. July 10-11. Froman lauded Chinese policy gestures that, according to the release, provide greater U.S. access to the Chinese market.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative recognizes the calls and need for transparency in the TTIP negotiation process, said Dan Mullaney, assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and chief U.S. TTIP negotiator, during a press conference July 13. “There is an intense focus on transparency,” he said, calling it “a need we take very seriously.” Mullaney pointed to the opportunities for stakeholder input and engagement as examples of the process’s transparency, as well as the USTR letter to Congress in March notifying legislators of USTR’s objectives going into the negotiations (here). USTR received 370 comments from stakeholders prior to the first round of negotiations and had 350 stakeholders attend stakeholder engagement events during last week’s round, including 50 stakeholders that gave presentations to the negotiators (see 13071113), he said. “We’re working very hard to conduct an open and transparent process.”

Over a hundred lawmakers emphasized the need to maintain the “yarn forward” import policy with Vietnam in a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative (here). The policy mandates duty-free Vietnamese apparel is manufactured with regional textiles. The Vietnamese government, as part of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, is seeking to alter that policy to permit use of Chinese textiles. The lawmakers argued such a policy alteration would cost half a million U.S. jobs.

Correction: The withdrawal of Generalized System of Preferences benefits for Bangladesh will take effect Sept. 3, according to a Presidential Proclamation set for publication in the July 2 Federal Register.

The White House will work towards World Trade Organization negotiations on tariff reductions on environmental goods and clean energy technologies as part of its Climate Action Plan, said the U.S. Trade Representative June 28. USTR said current tariffs on technologies such as solar and wind can be as high as 35 percent, adding to their cost of deployment. The WTO push will come on top of a U.S.-led Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum initiative to reduce tariffs on 54 environmental goods to five percent or less by 2015, USTR said (see 12092006). The APEC agreement can serve as a foundation for the WTO negotiations, it said.

Prior to its impending expiration next month, the U.S. Trade Representative released its seventh report to Congress about the Andean Trade Preference Act. Among the original four beneficiary countries -- Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru -- Ecuador is the only remaining beneficiary and will undergo examination for eligibility. As of May 15, 2012, Colombia is no longer an eligible beneficiary country since the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement entered into force.