U.S. and South Korean trade delegations will meet often in early 2015 to iron out the outstanding issues in U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on Dec. 14 (here). USTR chief Michael Froman met with South Korean Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick on that day to monitor progress in implementation. The talks focused on auto issues and financial services, said USTR. The agency previously complained about insufficient progress on reforming KORUS customs provisions for U.S. auto exports, saying the South Koreans continue to require excessive, trade-inhibiting documentation (see 14031425).

The Office of U.S. Trade Representative is asking for industry comments on bringing Israel and Turkey into negotiations on the World Trade Organization Environmental Goods Agreement (here). The U.S. is currently negotiating the terms of the tariff elimination agreement, including the specific goods subject to the deal, with Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, the European Union and Taiwan (see 14091812). The deal is expected to be based off an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation pact that is slashing duties on 54 "green" products (here). Both Israel and Turkey notified the EGA negotiating partners in recent months of their intent to enter the talks. Comments on the Israeli and Turkish entries are due by Jan. 12, 2015. USTR prefers comments are submitted through www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR–2014–0024.

Negotiations to expand the Information Technology Agreement collapsed on Dec. 12, but U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization Michael Punke applauded concessions made through the talks and urged all parties to the agreement to consider the next move (here). The U.S. and China announced a breakthrough in the ITA expansion talks in November that supporters say would remove duties on a range of high-tech tariff lines (see 1411110006). That deal appeared to fall short of demands from other ITA parties, which number roughly 80 in total, according to a statement given by U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke on Dec. 12.

The U.S. and the other 11 Trans-Pacific Partnership countries should now release the TPP text as the conclusion of negotiations appears to be “coming into focus,” said dozens of civil liberty and other advocates in a letter delivered to TPP negotiators during talks in Washington (here). Lawmakers have recently joined activist calls for more transparency in “secret” TPP talks held this week (see 1412080033). “We strongly urge you to release the unbracketed text and to release the negotiating positions for text that is bracketed, now and going forwards as any future proposals are made,” said the letter, which is signed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Oxfam International and others. “The public has a legitimate interest in knowing what has already been decided on its behalf, and what is now at stake with our various countries' positions on these controversial regulatory issues.” The letter pushes the U.S. and TPP countries to follow suit with the European Union in its commitment to going public with Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations. European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström vowed recently to disclose TTIP details in the coming weeks (see 1412090023).

Textile and apparel imports from Guinea and Madagascar will now qualify for African Growth and Opportunity Act preferences after those countries put in place measures to prevent illegal transshipments of goods and counterfeit documentation, said the U.S. Trade Representative in a notice (here). The goods will qualify under AGOA as of Dec. 15. The preference program expires at the end of this fiscal year, and industry representatives have been pushing for its early renewal.

There's a long list of tariff and non-tariff barriers for U.S. telecommunications exports, ranging from redundant Chinese conformity assessments to Indian duties and Hungarian Internet traffic taxes, said industry groups in comments filed to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in recent days. USTR asked in November for U.S. industry comments on telecom sections in trade agreements (see 1411110004). The Computer and Communications Industry Association, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), U.S. Council of International Business and two others filed comments to USTR (here). The comments were due Dec. 5 and replies are due Dec. 19.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will host an Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee/Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee meeting on Dec. 8, alongside Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the Office of the USTR said in a weekly schedule update. Later in the day, Froman will discuss Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations with Cecilia Malmstrom in Washington, D.C. Froman will also partake in an administration Export Council meeting on Dec. 11, USTR said. During the week, U.S. negotiators will be meeting informally with Japanese agriculture negotiators, as well, to continue talks on Trans-Pacific Partnership market access, said House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., on Dec. 5.

Trade officials from the United States and India pledged to work toward harmonization of regulations on animal and plant health and food safety issues, according to a joint statement from the Eighth India-U.S. Trade Policy Forum in New Delhi, India on Nov. 25 (here). Co-chaired by U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Indian Minister of Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman, talks centered on agricultural issues, harmonization of standards, and intellectual property rights.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is traveling to India this week for meetings with Indian government and industry officials, according to the Office of the USTR’s weekly schedule update (here). Froman is giving a speech at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Nov. 24. Then, on Nov. 25, Froman will co-chair the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum alongside India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman. No public events are scheduled for the rest of the week.

President Barack Obama has the “most ambitious trade agenda in history,” said Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global IP Center Summit Nov. 18. The present negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are the centerpieces of that agenda and highlight the central role of IP in trade, he said. Such IP issues include the theft of trade secrets, he said. Current TPP proposals will “ensure” that copyright holders will have “wider and deeper” distribution of their products in partnering countries, Holleyman said. TTIP is in an “earlier stage” of negotiations, he said. That agreement will “build on the common strengths” of European partners to address global IP issues, he said. There’s a “very active dialogue” between the Administration and Congress on how to “expedite” both negotiations, Holleyman said.