The U.S-Japanese Sept. 26 move to form an organic produce partnership will streamline U.S. farmers’ and processors’ access to a rapidly growing Japanese organic market, said the U.S. Trade Representative in a press release. The partnership will eliminate mutual trade barriers for small- and medium-sized organic producers and expedite the export certificate process through an equivalency arrangement, said USTR.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will travel to Europe and Asia next week to push progress on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the World Trade Organization and Trans-Pacific Partnership. His itinerary is as follows:

The European Union will host the second round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations in Brussels Oct. 7-11, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said in a press release. The USTR and U.S. International Trade Commission continue to host September roundtable discussions throughout the country to heighten awareness of TTIP (see 13090622). Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the release.

The chief trade negotiators for the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) participant nations made progress toward negotiation conclusion on customs, telecommunications, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, technical barriers to trade, cross border services and labor TPP chapters during four days on meetings Sept. 18-21 in Washington, D.C., said the U.S. Trade Representative in a press release.

Should the Obama administration enact legislation or apply retaliatory tariffs to address Chinese currency manipulation, U.S. employment and economic recovery will suffer, said American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) President and CEO Kevin Burke in a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative Sept. 20. In preparation for an Oct. 4 hearing, USTR requested comment in August on Chinese commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO) (see 13081409).

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has requested public comments on the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute over U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties placed on South Korean large residential washers. The South Korean government said on Aug. 29 it wants to begin negotiations with the U.S. to resolve the dispute. If the parties don’t establish a compromise after a 60-day consultation period expires following the Aug. 29 date, the South Korean government may request a WTO panel to decide the case (see 13082912). Comments should be submitted to USTR by Oct. 11 via www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2013-0031, or by contacting Sandy McKinzy at (202) 395-9483.

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced country-by-country allocations of Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 in-quota quantity of the tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for imported raw cane sugar, refined sugar (syrups and molasses), specialty sugar and sugar-containing products. The TRQs are effective Oct. 1. The Department of Agriculture initially announced on Sept. 13 that the TRQ in-quota quantity for FY 2014 raw cane sugar totals 1,117,195 metric tons raw value (MTRV), allocated in the following fashion:

The liberalization of U.S.-Turkey trade and investment was a top agenda item during a Sept. 16 meeting in Washington, D.C. between U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman and Turkish Minister of Economy Zafer Caglayan, the USTR said in a press release. The bilateral economic ties fall under a new High Level Committee (HLC), announced by President Obama in May. The two officials requested their technical teams also explore how Turkey will be affected by the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

The U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and trade (JCCT) remains a vital avenue to address bilateral trade and investment issues, as U.S. exports to China continue to climb, said co-chair and Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler at the JCCT mid-year review in Beijing on Sept. 11. U.S. goods exports to China rose to $110.6 billion in 2012, the USTR said, constituting a 6.4 percent increase from the previous year. Though "significant and complex challenges" in trading with China, "the U.S.-China trade relationship has a strong foundation and will continue to yield substantial dividends for both countries," said co-chair Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez. “We continue to look for opportunities such as the JCCT process to resolve key trade and investment barriers in China, to ensure our shared prosperity, and to broaden cooperation on key issues with a view toward making it easier to for U.S. service providers and exporters to do business with China,” said Sánchez. Sánchez intends to leave office in a matter of weeks (see 13090506).

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Miriam Sapiro reiterated calls for enhanced relations between the U.S. and Brazil during the Commission on Economic and Trade Relations under the U.S.-Brazil Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation Sept. 11-12, the USTR said in a press release. The day before the commission meeting, Sapiro publicly exhorted both countries to ramp up bilateral small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) economic interconnection, innovation and investment and to eliminate trade barriers (see 13091127). USTR said the next commission meeting will be in Washington D.C. in 2014.