The U.S. and Myanmar struck a deal on Nov. 14 to boost labor rights protections in the Southeast Asian country, the White House and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced. The U.S. will join Japan, Denmark and the International Labor Organization in helping improve Myanmar’s labor regime through a multi-year legislative reform process and capacity building efforts, the Obama administration said. “The labor reform plan developed under this Initiative is intended to serve as a blueprint to prioritize legal changes, coordinate donor assistance, and strengthen government capacity to implement those reforms in close cooperation with civil society representatives,” said the White House in a statement (here). President Barack Obama is currently in Myanmar for talks with regional leaders, and he is set to arrive in Australia for the G20 meeting on Nov. 15. The labor reform plan will be formally drafted in early 2015, said USTR (here).
President Barack Obama extended for one year the national emergency that has provided the foundation for sanctions against Iran for decades (here). Executive Order 12170, declared by former President Jimmy Carter in 1979, identified Iran as a security threat to the U.S.
President Barack Obama and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping pledged to speed up progress on Bilateral Investment Treaty talks during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Beijing, saying both sides expect to exchange proposals in early 2015 on a list of sectors that won’t be liberalized in the treaty. U.S. trade officials and business leaders are battling to ensure the list of Chinese sectors exempt from the treaty is as limited as possible, thereby allowing U.S. companies more access to the Chinese market (see 1410160012).
President Barack Obama pledged on Nov. 5 to work with Republicans to boost exports and liberalize Asian markets during the final two years of his tenure as president, in a clear hint at efforts to close the Trans-Pacific Partnership (here). Republicans steamrolled the Democratic field the day before, registering significant gains in both the House and Senate. Obama said he would be focusing on those objectives during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Partnership meetings, although a senior U.S. trade official on Nov. 5 dismissed the prospect of closing a TPP deal in Beijing, the site of the APEC summit.
President Barack Obama recently extended the national emergency that facilitates sanctions against Sudan (here). Executive Order 13067, issued in 1997 by then President Bill Clinton, authorizes the Treasury Department to block property of those tied to the conflict in Sudan. The national emergency complies with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Congress also expanded the reach of the sanctions against Sudan with the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006. The country continues to pose a national security and foreign policy threat to the U.S., said Obama on Oct. 24. Obama extended the national emergency for one year.
President Barack Obama extended a national emergency, initially declared in 2006 through Executive Order 13413 (here), that provides the Treasury Department authority to sanction a wide range of individuals involved in ongoing turmoil in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Obama notified Congress that the national emergency will be extended, although he did not include an expiration date in that notification. Executive Order 13413 cast a wide net over individuals in the DRC responsible for a number of atrocities, targeting in particular foreign individuals and groups operating in the DRC. The order gave Treasury the right to block the transfer of funds associated with sanctioned individuals or groups that are in the U.S., or in control of a U.S. person, or will be in the future.
President Barack Obama extended a two-decade old authority to sanction Colombian narcotics traffickers. The White House said the move is in accordance with the National Emergencies Act, and will be renewed for one year. The 1995 executive order continues to block the property and assets of a broad range of people associated with narcotics trafficking to the U.S. (here).
It's the right time to strike an agreement on a text for the U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty, and the two sides should ramp up efforts in the first part of 2015 to make sure China narrows down its list of sectors exempt from the treaty, said more than 50 U.S. CEOs in an Oct. 15 letter to President Barack Obama. The 15th round of negotiations on the treaty wrapped up in late September, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative dispatched Deputy USTR Robert Holleyman to Beijing this week to prepare for the annual U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (see 1410140043). “If China can significantly reduce its negative list and open markets to American manufacturers, agriculture producers, and service providers, you will find the business community fully engaged and supportive of your leadership to gain Senate approval of the treaty,” said the letter, signed by leaders from Caterpillar, Coca-Cola and dozens of other negotiations. “There are few other commercial outcomes that would gain as much support from business leaders in both the United States and China.”
President Barack Obama pressed the importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in an Oct. 14 call with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the White House said in a press release, while declining to comment further on whether the two leaders made progress in resolving TPP disagreements. "The president stressed the need to be bold in order to achieve their shared vision of a more prosperous and integrated Asia-Pacific region," said the statement. The U.S. and Japan have battled for the better part of 2014 over Japanese agricultural market access and auto issues in TPP (see 14100601)
President Barack Obama on Oct. 3 officially removed Russia from the list of countries that benefit from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Russia has economically advanced and developed its trade competitiveness to a point that no longer justifies its inclusion in the preference program, said Obama. The Trade Act of 1974 will be modified and the Harmonized Tariff Schedule will be amended to reflect the removal of Russia, Obama said in the statement. Obama told Congress in May that he intended to remove Russia from the program (see 14050805). The termination is effective Oct. 3. The GSP program has been expired for more than a year.