Newly introduced Trade Promotion Authority legislation would strengthen Congress' ability to slow trade agreement implementation bills, lawmakers and congressional aides said. The heavily-anticipated legislation, introduced on April 16, will also give the American public improved access to trade negotiations and lead the way for a number of other trade measures. Aside from procedural and transparency modifications, the bill largely mirrors the TPA legislation introduced in the last Congress, as many lawmakers and trade experts predicted (see 1501300023).
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
The U.S. cabinet level position that oversees trade negotiations with other countries. USTR is part of the Executive Office of the President. It also administers Section 301 tariffs.
The Senate Finance Committee aims to move forward with Trade Promotion Authority, Trade Adjustment Assistance and an unclear number of other trade bills in the coming days, pursuing a “parallel track” with two separate trade packages, said Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., at a committee trade hearing on April 16. The lawmakers, who have spearheaded trade policy in the Senate, indicated TPA and TAA will be the flagship items of the two packages, respectively.
The U.S. delegation to the World Trade Organization plans to request the establishment of an adjudication panel over the U.S. challenge to wide-ranging Chinese export subsidies under a program called the "Demonstration Bases-Common Service Platform." The U.S. asked for consultations with China on the subsidies in February, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative set an April 15 deadline for stakeholder comments (see 1503260007). The subsidy program has paved the way for free Chinese government services, including cash grants and other measures, in the shrimp, textile and other industries, the U.S. alleges (see 1502110022). The U.S. aims to request the panel at the next Dispute Settlement Body meeting on April 22, USTR said in a statement (here). At that same DSB meeting, the U.S. and New Zealand plan to ask for an adjudication panel in an ongoing dispute with Indonesia over import restrictions, such as discriminatory pre-shipment inspection requirements and other barriers, USTR said in the statement. The WTO established its first panel in that case in mid-2013 (see 14050930).
The TaoBao online service of Alibaba continues to peddle “innumerable” counterfeit goods on a daily basis, said the American Apparel and Footwear Association in an April 8 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White. Some AAFA members have been successful in forcing TaoBao to remove fake goods from the site, while other U.S. companies complain about the website’s “slow and cumbersome procedures” for removal, said AAFA in letters to the officials. “Even successes are short-lived as counterfeit products often reappear within hours or days of a take-down,” the letters said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asked for stakeholder comments on the South Korean challenge at the World Trade Organization to U.S. antidumping duties on oil country tubular goods (here). USTR criticized South Korea in March for moving ahead with a formal adjudication panel in the dispute, after consultations evidently failed to appease South Korean officials (see 1503130070). USTR is asking stakeholders to comment by May 1 on all aspects of the dispute and U.S. trade remedies. Commenters should make submissions via www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2015-0001.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker reiterated support for Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership in remarks on April 9, which coincided with the release of a new report on state-by-state trade data. The cabinet officials touted U.S. export gains as critical for U.S. economy growth, according to a USTR statement (here). Texas is the leading U.S. exporting state, with California, Washington state and New York trailing in that order, the report shows (here). The U.S. exported more than $700 billion worth of goods to TPP negotiating partners in 2014, as part of a record-breaking export year for the country, the report says. Some observers expect the Senate Finance Committee to mark up a TPA-led package before the end of April (see 1503310017). That legislation is widely viewed as necessary for TPP implementation.
U.S. trade negotiators likely won’t wrap up textile origin and tariff negotiations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership until the final stage of talks, said National Council of Textile Organizations President Auggie Tantillo in a March 25 briefing with reporters. The U.S. textile industry is continuing to fight to keep the yarn forward rule of origin for apparel “robust,” said Tantillo. NCTO will remain neutral on TPP until USTR releases the text, but is “positioning” to support Trade Promotion Authority, so long as the final package surrounding the bill doesn’t threaten the U.S. textile industry, he said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative took a number of steps to expand Trans-Pacific Partnership transparency on March 18, first pledging several new ways to show TPP text to lawmakers and then holding a classified briefing with House Democrats on labor rules in the talks. USTR said it will now give congressional members full access to TPP text at a secure location in the Capitol, as well as “plain English” round-ups on TPP chapters. The agency also vowed to preview U.S. proposals with congressional committees before taking them to high-level TPP talks.
U.S. and Pakistani senior officials reviewed progress on the Joint Action Plan for implementation of the bilateral trade and investment partnership (TIFA) on March 12, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement (here). The U.S. and Pakistan have made headway in facilitating Pakistani mango exports to the U.S. and U.S. live cattle exports to Pakistan, said USTR. The two sides announced the action plan nearly a year ago, and at the time vowed to use that forum to sharpen intellectual property rights protections and implement the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement, among other goals (see 14051326). The March 12 meeting came between TIFA formal sessions, said USTR. The March 12 summit also followed a March 9-12 trade trip by the Commerce Secretary and 140 representatives from U.S. companies, across a wide range of sectors. USTR called that trip a "success."
The fresh start in Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks is "not only well on its way but is in fact already happening," said European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malstrom in a March 12 speech (here). The European Union is making particular headway through increased transparency, said Malstrom.