The U.S. agricultural industry continues to face a multitude of non-tariff trade barriers, such as unscientific sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and geographical indications, to exporting agricultural goods to the European Union and Asia-Pacific region, industry representatives told lawmakers at a June 11 House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade hearing. The representatives urged the lawmakers to apply pressure on the Obama administration to remove the barriers through Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.
The Obama administration must include robust labor protection provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in order to safeguard U.S. workers and manufacturing, said several House lawmakers and union officials in a May 29 press call with reporters. The implementation legislation for a potential final agreement will fail to pass the House without those labor protections, said the lawmakers and officials. More than 150 House Democrats, led by those lawmakers on the press call, urged in a May 29 letter (here) to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman for TPP mandates that require participant nation requirements with international core labor standards.
The Obama administration should consider taking a “two-by-four” to Congress in order to power through Trade Promotion Authority, said former U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) William Brock at a National Foreign Trade Council event on May 28. The Office of the USTR likely will not float sensitive concessions to trade partners if any “nickel and dime” amendment could alter the agreement and derail implementation. “Our trade negotiators are going to be better at getting a good deal if they have a full deck,” said Brock. “You don’t have a full deck if you don’t have the authority to bring an agreement to Congress [that can be voted on] up or down without amendment.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is poised to permit less stringent apparel rules of origin in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) than the agency has in many other U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs), said industry executives close to the negotiations. U.S. textile and apparel importers are hoping to see more flexibility in TTIP rules of origin, considering the relatively low threat of European Union apparel exports to U.S. domestic industry, the executives said in interviews.
U.S. and European Union trade officials convened in Arlington, Va. on May 19 for the first of five days of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations. The officials are targeting progress on regulatory coherence, intellectual property rights and labor gaps, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Negotiators are set to begin work on May 20 on services and investment, technical barriers to trade, agricultural market access and rules of origin chapters, as well, said USTR.
The U.S. asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body to establish a panel to evaluate the legality of Indonesian licensing restrictions on horticultural products, animals, and animal products, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman said on May 8. The WTO previously established a panel on the matter in April 2013, after bilateral consultations failed to broker compromise (here). The U.S. is now requesting additional consultation to address recent changes to the licensing requirements, said the Office of the USTR.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) customs and trade facilitation chapter would ensure U.S. agricultural goods, including perishables, enter Asian-Pacific markets more efficiently and faster, said acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler at a May U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on agriculture trade policy. The chapter has not been made public to date. The intellectual property chapter also seeks to protect agricultural trademarks, while the chapter on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures aims to guarantee transparency and accountability in SPS risk determinations, added Cutler.
The Obama administration remains committed to comprehensive elimination of tariffs on industrial and agricultural products in a final Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pact, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman told the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Berlin on May 5. But the Office of the USTR also continues to prioritize regulatory coherence in TTIP that will provide small and medium sized business on both sides of the Atlantic greater access to markets, said Froman.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has not yet broached the issue of currency manipulation in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, USTR chief Michael Froman told the Senate Finance Committee in testimony on May 1. Froman also declined to commit to ensure currency rules are included in a final pact. Several Democratic lawmakers said there is poor likelihood TPP implementation legislation will pass Congress without currency provisions.
U.S. and Bangladeshi officials held an inaugural trade forum on April 28 in accordance with the bilateral Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The two sides vowed to work to improve labor conditions in Bangladesh in order to restore Generalized System of Preferences eligibility, said USTR. The U.S. aims to bolster its trade relationship with Bangladesh in the following areas, said USTR: