The Chinese government has “increasingly pursued policies” to obstruct U.S. industry access to the Chinese information and communications technology (ICT) sector over the past nine months, said 19 of the highest profile U.S. business and trade groups in a recent letter to President Barack Obama (here). Those groups, which include the Consumer Electronics Association, the Semiconductor Industry Association and others, urged Obama to pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease those barriers during a bilateral September summit in Washington. Chinese national security policy, as well as other motivations, have led to “a new program to acquire or indigenize U.S. semiconductor technology,” “new restrictions on cross-border data flows” and several other restrictive measures, said the Aug. 11 letter. “The United States and China should reaffirm their commitment to open markets, particularly in the ICT sector, recognizing the significant benefits that both countries enjoy from integration into global ICT industry value chains,” the groups said, while calling for other ways to strengthen cooperation among the two countries. The letter said China adopted the restrictive measures since Jinping's last visit to Washington in November 2014.

President Barack Obama signed into law on July 31 the three-month stopgap measure for the Department of Transportation’s surface infrastructure funding. The legislation, HR-3236 (here), extends funding through Oct. 29 and transfers $8.1 billion from the Treasury General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund. Obama praised congressional passage of the stopgap before signing the bill, but urged lawmakers to rally behind a long-term solution to highway funding. “We operate as if we’re hand-to-mouth three months at a time, which freezes a lot of construction, which makes people uncertain, which leads to businesses not being willing to hire because they don’t have any long-term certainty,” said Obama (here). “It’s a bad way for the U.S. government to do business.”

President Barack Obama voiced continued support for the recently extended African Growth and Opportunity Act (see 1506290045) during an event on July 22. "Now that it’s been renewed, AGOA will be central to our efforts to boost the trade and investment that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs both in Africa and the United States, creating opportunities for all of us," Obama said (here). The U.S. will sponsor the next U.S.-Africa Business Forum in 2016 in an effort to collaborate with Africa to promote "growth and opportunity" in the country, Obama said.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order in recent days to formally delegate authorities in the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, known commonly as Trade Promotion Authority, to different departments in the administration (here). Obama signed TPA into law on June 29 after months of intense negotiations and wrangling on Capitol Hill (see 1506290045). The executive action gives authority to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to conduct environmental reviews and the Department of Labor to conduct employment and labor rights reviews, among other delegations.

The U.S. will allow the import of Iranian carpets and foodstuffs, including caviar and pistachios, as implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action takes shape over the coming months, the document says, as released by The Washington Post (here). The U.S., Iran and other world powers reached an agreement to move forward with the deal, which is aimed at preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon in exchange for sanctions relief, on July 14 after three intense weeks of negotiations in Vienna (see 1507140020). All sides will adopt the deal 90 days or sooner following endorsement from the U.N. Security Council. At that point, the deal will take effect and sanctions relief will begin to unfold. Congress now has a 60-day window to approve, reject or choose to not act on the deal. President Barack Obama has threatened a veto on any rejection.

The U.S. and other P5 + 1 countries struck a historic deal with Iran early on July 14 to provide guidelines and directives to administer the Iranian nuclear enrichment program, the White House and other negotiators said in statements. The accord will launch a rollout of U.S. “phased sanctions relief upon verification that Iran has implemented key nuclear commitments,” said the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in its July 14 directive (here).

The U.S., Iran and other world powers continued to hammer out a compromise on a final nuclear enrichment agreement on July 13, capping off nearly three weeks of formal talks in Vienna. Iranian officials dismissed speculation over another extension of the round, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to speak at 1:30 p.m., the British Broadcasting Corporation reported (here). The U.S. Treasury Department extended the sanctions relief associated with the talks through July 13 (here). Talks were originally set to conclude on June 30, but negotiations have been extended several times since (see 1507080016).

The U.S. and Vietnam are collaborating to wrap up Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations “as soon as possible,” said the two countries in a joint statement released by the White House on July 7, following a summit between President Barack Obama and Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. The summit marks the first time the head of Vietnam’s communist party, one of the highest-ranking officials in the country, visited the White House since the countries normalized diplomatic relations nearly 20 years ago. “The United States and Vietnam expect to work in close coordination … to carry out whatever reforms may be necessary to meet the high standards of the TPP agreement, including as necessary with respect to commitments relating to the 1998 ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work,” said the statement (here).

The U.S. and Canada are pushing for an "early conclusion" to Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, said the White House following a meeting between Vice President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on July 5. The two officials met in Vancouver. Obama administration officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have for months urged Canada to dismantle or revise its agriculture supply management programs as part of the TPP pact (see 1504070006), but neither government has announced new proposals. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn't respond for comment. President Barack Obama signed Trade Promotion Authority into law on June 29 after months of political wrangling (see 1506290045). Free trade supporters have argued TPA will allow TPP parties to put their best offers on the table.

The Commerce Department and the Brazilian Industry and Trade Ministry signed an agreement on June 30 to boost cooperation on “standards and conformity assessment,” the White House said in a statement (here). President Barack Obama and his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, met at the White House on June 30. The statement said the two countries continue to work to broaden beef trade. The two countries will also launch a partnership by the end of 2015 to collaborate on implementing single window systems, the release said.