The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments on negotiating objectives for Mexico's participation in the negotiations of a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. It also set a public hearing for Sept. 21. Comments can be submitted via www.regulations.gov, docket number docket number USTR-2012-0014 by Sept. 4. Additional information: Donald Eiss, 202-395-3475.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments on negotiating objectives for Canada's participation in the negotiations of a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. It also set a public hearing for Sept. 24. Comments can be submitted via www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2012-0015 by Sept. 4. Additional information: Donald Eiss, 202-395-3475.

U.S. and Indonesian officials concluded a two-day meeting July 17 under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) to discuss ways to further build bilateral trade and investment ties and address priority issues, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. The two sides agreed at the meeting in Kuta, Indonesia, to boost their engagement under TIFA and will reactivate working groups that can focus on ways to resolve issues between them, a USTR release said. U.S. Government officials voiced concerns about several recent trade and investment measures that could restrict access to the Indonesian market for livestock, horticulture, and other products, it said. The two sides also discussed Indonesia’s intellectual property regime and agreed to launch a program of expanded engagement under the TIFA working group on intellectual property rights. The U.S. and Indonesian delegations plan a TIFA meeting in mid-September to follow up on this week’s discussions, it said. The U.S. delegation was led by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Barbara Weisel and included senior officials from the Departments of State, Agriculture, and Commerce, as well as the Patent and Trademark Office and the Environmental Protection Agency. U.S. goods and services trade with Indonesia totaled $28.5 billion in 2011. U.S. exports of agricultural products to Indonesia totaled $2.8 billion in 2011, the 8th largest U.S. agricultural export market. U.S. foreign direct investment was $15.5 billion in Indonesia's market in 2010, mostly in the energy and mining sector.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk concluded a three-day visit to Ghana last week where he discussed with officials “both countries’ interest in considering the possibility of a U.S.-Ghana bilateral investment treaty (BIT),” an USTR release said. In Accra, Kirk had a series of bilateral meetings with business leaders and Ghanaian government officials The discussions centered on the importance of trade and investment in promoting economic growth in Africa and the U.S., as well as the Obama administration’s new Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) for Sub-Saharan Africa, it said. Two-way trade between the U.S. and Ghana reached $2 billion in 2011, a 56 percent increase over 2010, USTR said. U.S. imports from Ghana were valued at $779 million, up nearly from $273 million in 2010. Imports from Ghana under the African Growth and Opportunity Act were $454 million in 2011, and consisted of oil, cocoa powder and paste, vegetables, fruits, precious metals, baskets and apparel, the release said. U.S. exports to Ghana topped $2 billion in 2011, up 25 percent from $963 million in 2010, and included petroleum products, machinery, and vehicles. Ghana was chosen as one of four countries in President Obama’s Partnerships for Growth (PFG) initiative, which is designed to promote broad-based economic growth through trade and investment.

While trade barriers affect all businesses, they pose “particular challenges” for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and “we are ready to focus on measures that disproportionately affect SMEs, especially those that impose additional costs, and thereby hamper SME export performance,” said Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro. At a workshop on SMEs organized under the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council in Rome Thursday, she said SMEs with limited resources often find it difficult to meet foreign standards, testing and certification requirements. In the services sector, insufficient intellectual property protection “poses a relatively larger risk to firms with limited resources,” she said. Services SMEs also find it more difficult to establish affiliates in foreign markets, where preferences for local providers can make it more burdensome for SMEs. Small businesses account for nearly 98 percent of all U.S. exporters, she said. The value of exports by U.S. small businesses in 2010 was more than $380 billion, a 24 percent increase over 2009. “These trends are positive, but I believe we can do better,” Sapiro said.

The Russian Duma ratified Russia’s World Trade Organization (WTO) accession package. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the U.S. is "pleased" that Russia has "completed this critical first step in its domestic process" for becoming a WTO member. "Russia’s membership in the rules-based global trading system of the WTO will contribute to Russia’s economic growth as well as provide us with new opportunities to guide and grow our bilateral economic relationship," Kirk said. The legislation now moves to the upper chamber of Russia’s parliament, the Federation Council, for adoption, and then to the President for signature. Russia has until July 23 to notify the WTO.

The U.S. is proposing at the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement talks in San Diego a new provision that will "obligate parties to achieve an appropriate balance" in their copyright systems in providing "exceptions and limitations for purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research," the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. "These principles are critical aspects of the U.S. copyright system, and appear in both our law and jurisprudence," it said. The "balance" sought by the U.S. proposal "recognizes and promotes respect for the important interest of individuals, businesses, and institutions" that rely on "appropriate exceptions and limitations in the TPP region," USTR said. It’s the first time that the U.S. is making such a proposal in any U.S. trade agreement, it said.

"It is time" to bring talks aimed at a World Trade Organization agreement in trade in services "back to Geneva with the ultimate aim of reinforcing and strengthening the rules-based multilateral trading system," a group of WTO member nations, including the U.S., said in a statement.

The Office of U.S. Trade Representative closed the Generalized System of Preferences country practice review on worker rights in Sri Lanka without any change to Sri Lanka’s GSP trade benefits, said USTR Ron Kirk. The AFL-CIO had filed a petition in 2008 alleging shortcomings in Sri Lanka’s recognition of worker rights. Kirk noted “the Sri Lankan government’s noteworthy efforts over the past few years to address the worker rights issues outlined in the GSP petition.” Among the steps, USTR said, are making progress in initiating, investigating and resolving unfair labor practices cases; establishing trade union facilitation centers in each of the three largest Economic Processing Zones; improving procedures for conducting union certifications; and enacting legislation to increase the fines for labor practices violations.

The U.S. Council for International Business is "quite concerned" with the U.S. Trade Representative determination to maintain access to Andean Trade Preference Act trade preference benefits for the government of Ecuador, it said in a statement. "With Peru and Colombia now moving up to full Free Trade Agreement partner status, Ecuador is the sole potential recipient of ATPA preferences going forward," it said. "Yet, in recent years, the Government of Ecuador has flaunted international and ATPA standards in key areas of rule-of-law and respect for arbitral awards." "It is inappropriate to reward the Government of Ecuador for its behavior in these key areas with preferential access to our market," USCIB said. "Ecuador should only obtain these benefits by coming into compliance with the eligibility criteria in the ATPA statute."