The World Trade Organization environmental goods agreement could be “critically important” for the growth of U.S. industry and the export of clean energy products, said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz during an Export-Import Bank Annual Conference panel on April 25. The markets for environmentally friendly products are currently forming across the globe and will likely take multiple decades to emerge, said Moniz. The U.S. aims to formally begin negotiations by June on the agreement that could eliminate or reduce tariffs on a wide range of energy products (see 14041724).
The fifth round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations will take place in Arlington, Va. from May 19-23, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.
The U.S. and Japan continue to battle over Japanese market access concessions in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, following a meeting between U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman and Japan’s Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari, said the Office of the USTR in an April 18 press release. The remaining gaps reflect “considerable differences,” said USTR. Despite publicly insisting on comprehensive tariff elimination, the U.S. is reportedly expected to permit Japan to keep tariffs on rice, wheat and likely sugar cane in the TPP (see 14041709).
U.S. and Taiwanese officials will continue to ramp up efforts to lift bilateral data localization requirements and revise multi-pack labeling requirements, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in a press release. The officials concluded on April 4 a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council meeting. The U.S. parties to the talks included State, Agriculture, Commerce, and Treasury Departments, as well as the Copyright Office and the Food and Drug Administration. The officials also pledged cooperation at multilateral forums, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). “The two sides updated each other on regional and multilateral initiatives,” said the release. “They highlighted their close cooperation on various initiatives in APEC, their work towards the prompt conclusion of a balanced and commercially significant expansion of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) at the WTO, achieving entry into force and full implementation of the WTO trade facilitation agreement, and efforts to advance the Trade in Services Agreement negotiations.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) outlined on April 4 the non-tariff barriers U.S. telecommunications service and equipment suppliers companies face when exporting goods and services. According to a release, USTR will target its efforts to address the following trade barriers:
The U.S. export of fresh potatoes to Mexico should resume by May, following a recent Mexican government decision to formally permit the trade, said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. A rule published in the Mexican government Diario Oficial on March 19 (here) enables U.S. potato exports to continue, in accordance with a U.S.-Mexican Market Access Agreement struck in 2003, said Simpson. The Mexican final rule runs “parallel” with a recent Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) rule to authorize U.S. import of Mexican potatoes, said potato industry advocates. The APHIS rule will take effect on April 25 (see 14032513).
A World Trade Organization (WTO) settlement panel found Chinese export restraints on two rare earth metals, tungsten and molybdenum, violate WTO agreements, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman announced on March 26. The panel ruled in favor of the U.S. in the dispute, the Office of the USTR said in a press release. The WTO website has not yet published the ruling. U.S. companies import the rare earth metals to use as inputs for hybrid car batteries, wind turbines, energy-efficient lighting, steel, advanced electronics, automobiles, petroleum and chemicals, USTR said.
The U.S. would likely have sealed a final Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact by now if Japan and Canada were willing to make sufficient concessions on agriculture market access, said U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman at the Atlantic Annual Economy Summit on March 18. Japan continues to refuse tariff elimination on rice, meat, wheat, dairy and sugar, while Canada is reluctant to concede dairy and poultry, according to USTR and independent observers (see 14022504). Japanese intransigence has emerged as a contentious issue in recent weeks (see 14021902).
The U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) is boosting U.S. agriculture exports, such as dairy, wine, beer, soybean oil, fruits and nuts, while improving South Korean intellectual property rights protections, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in a statement released days shy of the two year anniversary of the trade pact. Despite slow poor economic growth in South Korea, the U.S. is also exporting an increasing number of manufacturing products to South Korea, such as autos, said USTR.
President Barack Obama urged World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo to ensure the WTO remains a forum to address enforcement of trade rights and the dismantling of unfair tariff and non-tariff barriers during a bilateral meeting in Washington D.C. on March 10, according to a senior administration official. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman later in the day pressed Azevedo to implement by 2015 the WTO trade facilitation deal brokered in Bali in December, according to a USTR spokesman.