U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)

Senate Democrats released a trade policy initiative that includes creating an “independent trade prosecutor” position in the International Trade Commission and more transparency for Office of U.S. Trade Representative advisory committees. According to a blueprint on the policy, the ITC trade prosecutor would be responsible for evaluating potential trade violations under “strict timelines,” and could bring cases related to labor, the environment, subsidies causing overcapacity, agricultural trade barriers and cyber espionage used for stealing intellectual property. Violating foreign countries that don’t agree to change course would face potential restrictions to U.S. market access “in proportion with a U.S. company’s losses or the foreign company’s unfair advantage, without authorization” by the World Trade Organization, the blueprint, “A Better Deal on Trade and Jobs,” reads.

A mix of “creative cases” is needed to remedy trade violations created by Chinese industrial overcapacity, including Section 301 investigations and self-initiating antidumping and countervailing duty cases, Gilbert Kaplan, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be under secretary of Commerce for international trade, told the Senate Finance Committee Aug. 3. “I think it’s time maybe to dust off … Section 301,” he said. Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to take all "appropriate and feasible steps" to eliminate “unreasonable restrictions” of countries found to “burden or restrict” U.S. commerce. The statute authorizes the executive branch to retaliate against these restrictions as well as anti-competitive subsidies through duties, other import restrictions and withholding trade agreement benefits.

Several Senate Finance Committee members in a July 24 letter (here) to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reiterated their hopes for concluding a new softwood lumber agreement with Canada that meets domestic industry needs. Six of the seven members signing the letter, led by committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, had also signed onto an October letter to former President Barack Obama calling for his administration to conclude a new deal (see 1610240034).

U.S. and Malaysian officials met July 17 in Kuala Lumpur under their Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, and discussed ways to further strengthen trade relations and promote “free, fair and balanced” bilateral trade, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced (here). The two nations during the meeting agreed to work together on outstanding issues, including by establishing working groups related to goods, labor, the environment, intellectual property and financial services, USTR said. The U.S. delegation included USTR and Commerce and State department officials. USTR’s announcement highlighted the U.S.’s nearly $25 billion of goods trade deficit with Malaysia in 2016.

U.S. and Philippine officials met on July 10 in Manila under their Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, having “constructive discussions” on customs, agriculture and intellectual property protection, among other issues, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). Officials also discussed the Philippines’ progress in implementing the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement and WTO Information Technology Agreement Expansion, USTR said. The agency’s statement also noted the U.S. had a $1.8 billion trade deficit with the Philippines in 2016, and said that bilateral officials agreed to work to foster “free, fair, and balanced trade,” including by promoting increased trade and eliminating trade barriers. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Barbara Weisel and Philippine Under Secretary of Trade Ceferino Rodolfo chaired the meeting.

Most U.S.-EU trade proceeds without complication, but the U.S. is “frustrated” by agricultural tariffs and illogical sanitary/phytosanitary (SPS) regulations in the EU, Christopher Wilson, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative deputy chief of the U.S. Mission to Geneva, said at the 2017 EU Trade Policy Review at the World Trade Organization (here). “Given the EU’s importance in the global trading system, both as a commercial power and as a supporter of a rules-based system for regulating trade, we worry about the proliferation of trade restrictions that are based on factors other than the objective criteria offered by scientific assessments of risk, as required under the WTO SPS Agreement,” Wilson said. The U.S. also has broad concerns about EU policies and procedures to develop and implement regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures, as well as concerns about measures that affect U.S. exporters in several sectors, including chemicals and wine, Wilson said. The EU also requires certain trading partners to automatically protect EU geographical indications without “adequate consideration” of prior trademark rights and generic terms, which generates barriers to U.S. trade in third countries, he said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, at the direction of President Donald Trump, is calling for a U.S.-South Korea joint committee meeting under U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement Article 22.2 to start renegotiating and amending the agreement, a Trump administration official said in an email. The joint committee under KORUS comprises the U.S. trade representative and South Korea’s minister of trade, or their designees, and meets yearly, unless the parties decide otherwise, or within 30 days upon either party’s request. “USTR will request a meeting,” the official said. “Once a formal request is sent, the date(s) and arrangements of the Joint Committee will then be determined and announced.”

U.S. and Indonesian government officials met June 12-13 under their bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, and agreed on next steps for resolving bilateral issues and further building trade relations, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). U.S. officials outlined the Trump administration’s focus on “making concrete progress” on agriculture, high-tech products, and digital and financial services, among other areas, USTR said. The two nations discussed a work plan to address IP concerns, “recognizing the urgency of progress,” as USTR listed Indonesia on its Special 301 Priority Watch List (see 1704280026). U.S. and Indonesian officials also met with stakeholders from both countries on key trade issues of concern, USTR said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will lead the U.S. delegation at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council meeting June 7-8 in Paris, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here). Lighthizer will advocate at the meeting for “free and fair trade policies” that eliminate trade barriers and reduce trade deficits, USTR said. Lighthizer will meet bilaterally with several key trading partners on the margins of the OECD meeting, USTR said.

Renegotiation of NAFTA’s agricultural provisions could merely consist of fine-tuning those parts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said during a House Agriculture Committee hearing (here) May 17. “You might see a trilateral TPP” in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation, he said. “I’m just suggesting that. But many of the principles that you all [spear]headed in negotiations are still viable. It’s just a matter of fine-tuning those in a way that makes sense.”