The Guatemalan government is strengthening labor domestic protection through increasing workplace inspectors and passing legislation that ensure police assistance for inspector access and verify employer compliance with labor law, but the reforms remain insufficient, said the Office of the Trade Representative in a March 6 release. The U.S. suspended a labor dispute with Guatemala, initiated through the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement dispute mechanism, after the two countries signed a deal in April 2013 that mandated specific Guatemalan labor protection enforcement. The U.S. may choose to renew the dispute proceeding if U.S. concerns are not sufficiently addressed by April 25, said USTR.
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 Obama Administration is prioritizing increases in agriculture and manufacturing exports during the course of 2014, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in the Trade Policy Agenda released on March 4. The USTR will also seek to add protections to intellectual property rights through the World Trade Organization and free trade agreements now being negotiated, the agency said.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations continue to be hampered by gaps between negotiators on a broad set of issues, said a number of industry officials and analysts, despite repeated Obama administration claims that the talks are close to conclusion. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has recently ratcheted up pressure on Japan to deliver more substantial auto and agriculture tariff and non-tariff barrier elimination, indicating the fate of the pact may partially hinge on U.S.-Japanese bilateral agreement (see 14021902). But as the Singapore ministerial round of TPP negotiations concluded on Feb. 25, some say there are unresolved traditional and non-traditional areas of trade that pose obstacles to the heavily-anticipated conclusion of negotiations.
The U.S., along with 13 other nations and the European Union (EU), announced on Jan. 24 an initiative that targets comprehensive elimination of tariffs on environmental "green" goods, according to a joint statement released during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation pledged in 2012 to reduce to 5 percent or less tariffs on 54 environmental products (here). The decision reached at Davos aims to build off that list to reach the broader World Trade Organization (WTO) community, said the joint statement.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting public comment on U.S. antidumping measures on a host of Chinese products. China initiated World Trade Organization consultations in the dispute on Dec. 3, 2013 (here). The products include certain coated paper suitable for high-quality print graphics using sheet-fed presses, certain oil country tubular goods, high pressure steel cylinders, polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip, aluminum extrusions, frozen and canned warmwater shrimp, certain new pneumatic off--the-road tires, crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, diamond sawblades and parts thereof, multilayered wood flooring, narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge, polyethylene retail carrier bags, and wooden bedroom furniture.
The conclusion of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations would make the U.S. the international hub of free trade, fueling foreign and domestic investment aimed at boosting U.S. exports, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on Jan. 22 at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, held in Washington D.C. A combination of U.S. rule of law, highly-skilled workers, an entrepreneurial culture and affordable, clean energy, as well as the eventual market access acquired through TPP and TTIP, are leading to increased foreign investment and encouraging companies to move production back to the U.S., said Froman.
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) participant nations are far from compromise on environmental rules, particularly on multilateral environmental agreements and a dispute resolution process, WikiLeaks said on Jan. 15 after releasing the confidential TPP environment chapter dated Nov. 24 (here). The consolidated text (here) released by WikiLeaks is said to have been crafted during the TPP summit in Salt Lake City on Nov. 19-24.
The U.S. requested consultation on Jan. 13 with China over antidumping and countervailing duties imposed on U.S. grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel (GOES) exports to the country, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) officials, including USTR chief Michael Froman, told reporters at a press conference. The U.S. says the duties, initially imposed in 2010, fail to meet World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) recommendations for compliance and continue to violate WTO agreements, the officials said.
The U.S. and Libya signed on Dec. 18 a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement that will provide a forum to address trade issues and eliminate barriers to trade, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in a press release. The agreement will address market access and intellectual property rights, among other issues, said USTR. USTR did not respond for comment on the specifics of the deal.
WikiLeaks released the previously undisclosed Intellectual Property (IP) chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, currently being negotiated by the U.S. and 11 additional nations. WikiLeaks obtained the 95-page document after the August 26-30 TPP summit in Brunei, said WikiLeaks in a Nov. 13 press release (here). The leak comes as chief TPP negotiators prepare to meet in Salt Lake City from Nov. 19 to 24 (see 13110110).