The office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is inviting applications to fill positions on North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) binational panels, created to review antidumping and countervailing duty determinations. NAFTA parties must establish the panel in accordance with Annex 1901.2 of the agreement (here). USTR is seeking applicants to serve from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015.

The U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) ramped up bilateral goods trade to nearly $16 billion in 2012 through improved “transparency and efficiency,” notably in customs procedure, said U.S. Mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Attaché Quentin Baird in prepared remarks at the WTO Trade Policy Review of Peru. The review was conducted on Nov. 13 and Nov. 15. The PTPA took effect in January 2009. Peruvian liberalization efforts, coupled with advantageous commodity prices, contributed to poverty reduction from 42 percent in 2007 to 28 percent in 2011, said Baird.

The U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman will speak at the Port of Los Angeles on Nov. 16, after attending a CBP tour and demonstration on the importance of effective trade enforcement, intellectual property protections and import safety standards, the office of the USTR said (here). Froman will also participate on Nov. 16 in a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership panel at the U.S. Spain Council Forum in Santa Barbara, accompanied by Spanish Secretary of State for Trade, Jaime García-Legaz.

The fourth round of Trade in Services Agreement negotiations concluded in Geneva on Nov. 8, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). “The draft text of the agreement was further stabilized with the removal of all brackets concerning the ‘negative list’ approach,” said USTR. TISA includes 50 participants representing 70 percent of global trade in services, according to the Coalition of Services Industries (here).

U.S. and European Union trade officials convened in Brussels on Nov. 11 to launch five days of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said Nov. 11. Negotiations will initially focus on investment rules and trade in services, USTR said, while officials also plan to broach regulatory coherence, technical barriers to trade, sectoral approaches and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, among other topics. The next round of negotiations is scheduled to be held Dec. 16-20 in Washington, D.C. (see 13110409). Industry leaders pressed comprehensive tariff elimination in a final TTIP pact, along with possible increases to de minimis levels, during an Oct. 30 Senate Finance Committee hearing (see 13103107).

The U.S. and European Union will conduct the second round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks from Nov. 11-15 in Brussels, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said on Nov. 4 in a press release. Negotiations will cover services, investment, energy and raw materials, and regulatory issues, the USTR said. The following round of negotiations will be held Dec. 16-20 in Washington D.C, USTR added. The Obama Administration canceled the last round of TTIP negotiations, slated for October, due to the government shutdown (see 13100418). Industry leaders pressed comprehensive tariff elimination in a final TTIP pact, along with possible hikes in de minimis levels, during an Oct. 30 Senate Finance Committee hearing (see 13103107). Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the USTR release.

The U.S., along with Mexico and Chile, will be hosting a number of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations with TPP participant nations throughout November, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said in an Oct. 31 statement. The meetings are scheduled as follows:

The U.S.-Panama free-trade agreement has removed duties on 87 percent of U.S. consumer and industrial product exports and more than half of agricultural exports, contributing to a 17 percent rise in exports to Panama from November 2012 to August 2013 compared to the preceding period, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said in an Oct. 31 press release. More tariffs are continuing to phase-out, said the release. The agreement marks its one-year anniversary, after entering into force on Oct. 31, 2012.

The Obama Administration is pursuing arguably the most ambitious trade agenda in U.S. history to increase U.S. exports, raise international trade standards, address emerging dynamics and strengthen the global multilateral trading system, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman at the Economist Buttonwood conference on Oct. 30, according to a release. “That’s why we’re pursuing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), which together will allow us to conduct free trade with economies representing nearly two-thirds of global GDP,” said Froman. “It’s also why we’ve pressed for a binding agreement on trade facilitation at the WTO -- which has the potential to reduce the costs of customs, clearance, logistics, border measures, and other inefficiencies by 10 percent for developed countries and nearly 14 percent for developing countries -- estimated to increase global incomes by literally hundreds of billions of dollars.” The U.S. is also pursuing Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) negotiation with China, while aiming to deepen trade ties with India, Brazil, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, said Froman.

The U.S. tobacco provisions for the Trans-Pacific Partnership render health protection measures weak, likely fueling greater consumption of a deadly product, said dozens of House lawmakers in an Oct. 30 letter to President Barack Obama. Proposed at the Brunei negotiations this month, the measures scale back previously strong U.S., health safeguards, said the lawmakers. “They are a step backward from the approach described by the United States last year, which included a clear 'safe harbor' provision to preserve regulations that protect the public from the dangers of tobacco products,” said the lawmakers. “We are also concerned that the USTR position be consistent with the letter and spirit of the Doggett Amendment, which prohibits the United States government from promoting tobacco products.”