The U.S. Trade Representative has published its annual trade estimate, almost 400 pages of tariff and non-tariff barriers in countries around the world. The report noted, "The estimates included in this report constitute an attempt to quantitatively assess the potential effect of removing certain foreign trade barriers to particular U.S. exports. However, the estimates cannot be used to determine the total effect on U.S. exports, either to the country in which a barrier has been identified, or to the world in general. In other words, the estimates contained in this report cannot be aggregated in order to derive a total estimate of gain in U.S. exports to a given country or the world."

Jennifer Thornton, who recently led the Business Roundtable's advocacy on trade policy, has joined the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as general counsel. Before going to the trade group that represents America's largest companies, she was trade counsel to Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., when they were in the minority on the House Ways and Means Committee.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is inviting comments on unfair trade practices, which could be policies that undermine U.S. production or reduce U.S. exports to that country.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, as instructed by the America First trade policy presidential memo, is undertaking a review of the phase one agreement with China, it said. That review is due to the president April 1.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a trade strategy to combat forced labor, which includes policy successes during the Biden administration and "areas for potential future action" for the next administration, it announced in a Jan. 13 news release.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative published a series of policy papers focused on improving supply chain resilience. The series, titled Adapting Trade Policy for Supply Chain Resilience: Responding to Today’s Global Economic Challenges, features six papers informed by public hearings the agency held earlier this year (see 2405010016 and 2405020075). These policy papers "remind us of where we have traveled, acknowledge the challenges that shape our journey today, and light our path ahead to better serving all Americans for generations to come," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asked the International Trade Commission to study the "distributional effects of goods and services trade and trade policy on U.S. micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises," particularly those that are women-owned, minority-owned (including by a person with a disability or gay- or trans-owned) and those in rural locations.

There will be no changes in 2025 to the countries that can participate in the trade benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a spokesperson from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced last week.

The U.S. requested three more panels under the rapid response labor mechanism in the USMCA to investigate three Mexican manufacturing facilities. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that the U.S. and Mexico "were not able to agree on a plan for the full resolution of workers’ concerns at their facilities," and so USTR activated the dispute settlement panel under USMCA.

The U.S. requested a panel under the rapid response mechanism in the USMCA for the third time to investigate a Canadian mining facility located in Mexico. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that the U.S. and Mexico were unable to come to an agreement and so "the United States therefore has determined that it is appropriate to request a panel to verify the facility’s compliance with Mexican labor laws."