The U.S. will host a Trans-Pacific Partnership ministerial in Maui, Hawaii from July 28-31, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on July 7. "We continue to work intensively to address specific issues bilaterally," said the statement (here). "The upcoming ministerial provides an important opportunity to build on this progress as we work to conclude the negotiation." The TPP chief negotiators will also meet in Maui from July 24-27.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will meet with Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the head of Vietnam’s communist party and one of the highest-ranking officials in the country, in Washington on July 6, the Office of the USTR said in its weekly schedule (here). President Barack Obama will summit with Trong the following day at the White House. Vietnam is party to Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
CBP will publish a notice in July detailing Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) renewal and how importers can secure refunds, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) (here). "Importers should be advised that duties collected may take up to 90 days after liquidation or reliquidation of entries to process and refund retroactively," USTR said. The House passed retroactive GSP renewal legislation on June 25, requiring CBP to reimburse importers for tariffs on all goods traded in the interim since GSP expired in 2013 and President Obama signed the GSP renewal into law on June 29 (see 1506290045).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is asking for public comments on the U.S. dispute over Indonesian imports restrictions on horticultural and animal products (here). The World Trade Organization established an adjudication panel in the dispute in late May, USTR said. New Zealand joined the U.S. in requesting the panel (see 1505120007). USTR initially asked for the panel more than a year ago (see 14050930). The U.S. is contesting restrictions on non-automatic import licensing and discriminatory pre-shipment inspection requirements, among other import barriers. Stakeholders are allowed to comment until July 31. Stakeholders are advised to submit comments through www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2014-0010.
Armenia formally joined the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement on June 6, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). Changes in U.S. law for Armenia's accession will take effect June 26, USTR said. Forty-three countries, including those in the European Union, are now party to the revised procurement agreement. The pact aims to unlock more government procurement opportunities worldwide.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative launched a busy week of events in Washington on June 22, the agency said in its weekly schedule. Among other speeches and meetings, USTR Michael Froman will attend on June 22 a Labor Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and Trade Policy alongside Labor Secretary Tom Perez. Froman and Deputy USTR Robert Holleyman will then participate the following day in the seventh U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator Darci Vetter will also attend the summit, which is closed to the press. On June 24, Froman is tentatively scheduled to speak at an event hosted by the White House Business Council and the Business Roundtable. To wrap up the week, Froman will then meet on June 25 with United Kingdom Minister of State for Trade Francis Maude and separately with French Agriculture Minister Stéphane Le Foll.
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Jennifer Prescott will participate in an environmental working group meeting under the U.S.-Peru free trade agreement on June 9 in Lima, the Office of the USTR said in its weekly schedule (here). USTR Michael Froman will attend a meeting of President Barack Obama’s export council the next day. Assistant USTR John Melle with then host a meeting for bilateral meeting for the U.S.-Chile FTA in Washington on June, 11, USTR said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its reallocation of fiscal year 2015 in-quota quantities for tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) on imported raw cane sugar (here). USTR announced its initial allocation of FY15 TRQs in September 2014 (see 14090405). The reallocation is effective June 8. Drawing from discussions with quota-holders, USTR is reallocating 157,937 metric tons raw value (MTRV) of the original TRQ quantities from countries that are unable to meet their quotas, the agency said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released on June 2 a brief “report” on tariffs the Trans-Pacific Partnership is likely to reduce and eliminate (here). At the top of the list of tariff barriers, USTR says U.S. exporters face rice tariffs that reach 778 percent in some TPP countries. USTR has negotiated with Japan over TPP rice market access for more than a year without any public breakthrough (see 1505050019). U.S. companies face more than 300 percent tariffs on poultry and 100 percent on footwear, along with a range of other high tariffs. U.S. negotiators recently finished two weeks of TPP negotiations in Guam (see 1505250001), but USTR hasn’t commented on progress.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman will deliver remarks to the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference in Arlington, Virginia, on June 1, the Office of the USTR said in its weekly schedule. The next day, USTR Froman will travel to Germany to partake in a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership forum with European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom. EU lawmakers on May 28 released their prescriptions for a final TTIP pact.