The Obama Administration should oppose European Union (EU) efforts to push stringent conflict mineral regulations that will damage United States manufacturers and defy the objectives of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, said dozens of business leaders in an Oct. 9 letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. Those EU efforts may include “differential and discriminatory” rules for products imported into the EU and those produced in the EU, read the letter, endorsed by the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Association of Exporters and Importers, among others.

The Obama Administration canceled the second round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in Brussels, previously slated to take place Oct. 7-11, due to the on-going government shutdown. The pact remains an economic priority for the administration, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman told his European Union counterpart, according to an Oct. 4 press release. “Financial and staffing constraints related to the shutdown make it impossible to send a full team of negotiators,” said the release. “USTR will work with the Commission to craft an alternative work plan that can begin once the U.S. government shutdown ends.” Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the release.

The U.S. stance on Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) tobacco market access provisions violates the World Trade Organization (WTO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and threatens the global effort to reduce tobacco use, said Executive Director of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Georges Benjamin in an Oct. 2 letter to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman. The U.S. should endorse the Malaysian proposal put forth in August for a tobacco carve-out in the TPP framework, said Benjamin.

The flexibility offers tabled for the Bali round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations will disappear if trade officials fail to strike a compromise in December, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in Geneva Oct. 1. Such a failure would bring disproportionate harm to developing countries, said Froman.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a request for comment on the operation of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), as amended by the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act. Interested parties may submit comments on any aspect of the program’s operation, including the performance of CBERA and CBTPA beneficiary countries. USTR specifically requested input on the following:

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations between the U.S. and European Union face obstacles but the divide over U.S. cost-benefit analysis priority and European preference for precautionary principles is a conflict of the past, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman during a Sept. 30 speech in Brussels. The partnership must tie the two economies closer through enhancing mutual commitment to rules-based trade, which will enable the two economies to strengthen rules globally in the areas of localization and the role of state-owned enterprises.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) extended the deadline for written, public comments on Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets to Oct. 25. The previous deadline was Oct. 11, after a Sept. 20 request for comment. The Notorious Markets List identifies potential Internet and physical notorious markets that exist outside the U.S. Interested parties should comment via http://www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR--2013--0030. For more information, including alternate means of submission, contact USTR Executive Assistant, Cecelia Jones-Davis, at (202) 395--9651.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership textile and apparel chapter should include strong yarn forward rules of origin (ROO) with a limited short supply list composed of non-U.S. produced items, said North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory in a Sept. 24 letter (here) to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. That discipline is an economic imperative in the face of a subsidy-dominated Vietnamese apparel export industry that has grown 15,000 percent in 10 years and is fuelled by Chinese inputs, said McCrory.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is requesting written public comment for the annual review of country eligibility for benefits associated with the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The USTR African Growth and Opportunity Act Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee will consider comments in developing recommendations for the AGOA’s 2014 calendar year. The comments should be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2013-0035, by Oct. 25.

The U.S.-Mongolian trade and investment transparency agreement signed Sept. 24 commits both parties to apply impartial trade and investment procedure and provides opportunity for private sector appeal, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in a press release (here). The agreement will also apply bribery and corruption disciplines, the release said.