The U.S. Trade Representative recently posted its 2017 report to Congress on the operation of tariff preferences programs under the Caribbean Basin Initiative. Required every two years, the report covers the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), as well as associated programs including the Haiti Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act. According to the report, the total value of imports from beneficiary countries in 2016 was down 24 percent from 2015 and down 58 percent from 2006. “The decline in U.S. imports from CBI beneficiaries was mostly due to lower petroleum prices and lower imports because of increased domestic U.S. petroleum production,” USTR said. “U.S. imports of textiles from CBERA countries also declined by 5 percent.”
The U.S. and South Korea have “much work to do” in negotiations over an updated U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement following talks held Jan. 5 in Washington. At the meeting, U.S. and South Korean officials discussed “priority areas of interest and agreed to set the schedule for the next meeting in the near term,” according to a separate statement from the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The U.S. “discussed proposals to move towards fair and reciprocal trade in key industrial goods sectors, such as autos and auto parts, as well as to resolve additional cross-cutting and sector-specific barriers impacting U.S. exports,” the USTR statement said. “Both sides agreed to follow-up to discuss timing for the next meeting in the very near term,” USTR said.
South Korean and U.S. officials will meet Jan. 5, 2018, in Washington to negotiate potential amendments and modifications to the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, after Seoul’s government completed domestic procedures to allow talks to proceed, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. The meeting will be led by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan, Korea and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group Michael Beeman and South Korea Trade Ministry Director General Myung-hee Yoo. President Donald Trump in June announced a push to update KORUS (see 1706300027). U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in July initiated talks to resolve market access issues for U.S. exports and the U.S.’s trade deficit with South Korea (see 1707130002). The bilateral KORUS Joint Committee has met on Aug. 22 (see 1708220013), and Oct. 4 (see 1710060012).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced eligibility for "trade surplus" tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for sugar originating in certain free trade agreement countries for calendar year 2018. USTR found Colombia and five members of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) eligible for the TRQ. The agency found Panama, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Morocco and Peru do not qualify.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting written submissions from the public by Feb. 8, 2018, of comments concerning foreign countries that “deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights” or deny fair market access to U.S. citizens who rely on intellectual property protection, USTR said. In advance of a Feb. 27 public hearing to be hosted by the interagency Special 301 Subcommittee, USTR is asking that the public identify actions that might implicate a particular trading partner as a priority foreign country. Foreign governments will have until Feb. 22 to submit written comments, notices of intent to testify at the hearing, and any prepared hearing statements. USTR plans to publish the National Trade Estimate within about 30 days prior to the expected April 30 publication of the 2018 Special 301 Report.
The U.S., the EU and Japan agreed to bolster trilateral cooperation at the World Trade Organization and other fora to address “severe excess capacity in key sectors” by combating unfair subsidies and other third-country protectionist practices, according to a Dec. 12 trilateral statement after officials met during the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires. Runaway excess capacity in “key sectors” that is worsened by subsidized expansion, state-owned enterprises, local content requirements and forced technology transfers is a “serious” concern for the “proper functioning” of trade and global growth, the statement says.
While the World Trade Organization provides a helpful negotiating forum for contracting parties, "many" are concerned the institution is becoming too litigation-centered, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Dec. 11, in an opening plenary statement at the 11th Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires. “Too often members seem to believe they can gain concessions through lawsuits that they could never get at the negotiating table. We have to ask ourselves whether this is good for the institution and whether the current litigation structure makes sense,” he said, according to a speech transcript.
The U.S. Trade Representative set calendar year 2018 and 2019 procurement thresholds (here) under the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), and U.S. free trade agreements with Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, CAFTA-DR, Morocco, NAFTA, Oman, Panama, Peru, Singapore and South Korea. U.S. obligations under these agreements apply to covered procurements valued at or above the specified U.S. dollar thresholds.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1994 provides the premise that World Trade Organization members recognize non-market prices or costs aren’t suitable for antidumping comparisons, and China’s accession protocol to the WTO clarifies that China’s domestic prices and costs would be considered “distorted” for AD duty purposes, the U.S. said in a brief filed to the WTO. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative filed the third-party brief concerning China’s March request for a WTO dispute panel to examine the EU’s non-market economy treatment of China in AD duty cases (see 1703130037). Non-market prices or costs aren’t suitable for AD comparisons because they aren’t appropriate to use for determining price comparability, the brief says. China has asserted that the expiration of a provision in its 2001 WTO accession agreement required that WTO members automatically grant it market economy status beginning Dec. 11, 2016 (see 1703130037). As part of their non-market AD methodologies, the U.S. and the EU use “surrogate” third-country prices and costs to set artificial prices for Chinese companies to be used in AD rate calculations for China.
The Trump administration will accept public input on recommendations from the International Trade Commission for potential trade remedies that might be imposed after the ITC reached an affirmative injury determination in its Section 201 safeguard investigation on large residential washers, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. The ITC's final report is due to the White House Dec. 4. President Donald Trump will then have about two months to adopt or reject the ITC’s recommendations, or opt to set other trade restrictions. USTR will accept written comments through Dec. 11, and written responses to the initial round of comments through Dec. 18, including from domestic producers, importers, exporters or other interested parties, USTR said. Further, the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) will hold a public hearing on the matter on Jan. 3, 2018.