U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman will meet on April 30 with Carlo Calenda, Italy’s Vice Minister of Economic Development, to discuss the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Office of the USTR said in its weekly schedule. Deputy Assistant USTR for Small Business Christina Sevilla will on May 1 speak at a workshop at the Embassy of Latvia on small and medium enterprises in TTIP. Ambassador Froman will on May 1 also meet with a BUSINESSEUROPE delegation to discuss TTIP issues. The events will be closed to the press. USTR recently announced the next round of TTIP negotiations will take place in May (see 14042813).

The World Trade Organization on April 25 postponed a decision on a U.S. request that the WTO create a panel on the domestic content requirements in India’s solar energy program. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) initiated consultations in February with India over the National Solar Mission, a program USTR claims violates WTO rules. The panel request indicates the consultations failed to bridge gaps. U.S. and India previously held consultations over the issue in February 2013. “India said that it was disappointed with the U.S. request to establish a panel and believed that a mutually agreed solution was still possible,” said the WTO. “India, therefore, was not in a position to agree to the establishment of a panel. In that regard, the DSB deferred the establishment of a panel to examine this matter.” USTR Michael Froman argued the forced localization barriers hike up the cost of solar energy across the globe, including in India (see 14021102).

The U.S. will suspend for an additional four months its dispute over Guatemalan labor rights under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said on April 25. The dispute will not be terminated, however, said USTR. The Guatemalan government needs to demonstrate over the next four months it is implementing a bilateral enforcement plan by passing legislation that guarantees compensation and provides an expedited process to sanction employers that violate labor laws, said USTR. “We will continue to work closely with the Guatemalan Government in these next four months to review the steps taken and assess whether the reforms are leading to concrete improvements in Guatemalan workers’ rights,” said USTR Michael Froman.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) removed the Philippines from the Special 301 Watch List after the country implemented sufficient protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, USTR said on April 28. The country was on the list since 1994.

The fifth round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations will take place in Arlington, Va. from May 19-23, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.

The Bangladeshi government must continue to improve labor rights protections through its Export Processing Zone law and other legislation in order to regain Generalized System of Preferences eligibility, said the Department of State, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Labor in an April 23 release. In accordance with an Action Plan outlined by the Obama administration in July 2013, Bangladesh must also increase inspector staff, publicly disclose inspector evaluation, protection free association of workers and improve labor conditions, said the joint statement. The Obama administration will make a preliminary determination in June on the reinstatement of Bangladesh into the GSP program, USTR said on April 22 (see 14042211).

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman will join President Barack Obama’s tour through four Asian countries over the next week, said the Office of the USTR in its weekly schedule. The tour will include legs in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, said the agency. Obama will depart the U.S. for Tokyo in the afternoon on April 22, the White House said in a press release. There the president will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The U.S. and Japan continue to dispute auto provisions and agricultural market access in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations (see 14042113). Acting Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler continued negotiations on those outstanding issues in Toyko on April 21 with her Japanese counterparts, said USTR. Froman will also hold a roundtable on April 23 with the American business community in Japan to discuss TPP and bilateral trade issues, said USTR.

The U.S. and Japan continue to battle over Japanese market access concessions in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, following a meeting between U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman and Japan’s Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari, said the Office of the USTR in an April 18 press release. The remaining gaps reflect “considerable differences,” said USTR. Despite publicly insisting on comprehensive tariff elimination, the U.S. is reportedly expected to permit Japan to keep tariffs on rice, wheat and likely sugar cane in the TPP (see 14041709).

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) recently launched two investigations into trade in environmental goods, it said on April 17. The U.S. aims to formally begin negotiations by June on an environmental goods tariffs agreement at the World Trade Organization (see 14032415). The first investigation will evaluate the economic impact of removing duties on environmental goods, said the release, while the second will focus on the details of specific environmental goods.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that revisions to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement entered into effect for Japan on April 16. The U.S., Canada, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Israel, Liechtenstein, Norway, the European Union, Iceland, and Singapore implemented the changes on April 6 (see 14040811). Each country is required to wait 30 days after it formally adopts the revised agreement and notifies the WTO, before the revised agreement can enter into force.