The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will be holding a public hearing on Chinese compliance with its World Trade Organization commitments on Oct. 7, and all stakeholder comments are due by Sept. 23 (here). USTR is also encouraging stakeholders to testify publicly. Those that want to testify must notify the agency by Sept. 23, as well. The U.S. and China have faced off in a number of high-profile WTO disputes recently. Roughly one week ago, the WTO ruled China is falling short in complying with a 2012 decision to fault high duties on U.S. grain oriented electrical steel exports (see 1507310030). USTR recommends stakeholders submit comments through www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2015-0010.
U.S. agricultural producers urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to pressure South Africa to remove unnecessary trade barriers on U.S. exports in comments submitted as part of USTR’s out-of-cycle of the country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (here). USTR is convening a hearing on South Africa’s AGOA beneficiary status on Aug. 7, and the window for comments closed on Aug. 5 (see 1507200019). A range of U.S. agriculture companies and associations were set to testify at the hearing.
Claims that the U.S. sugar market is closed to foreign producers are among the major fallacies of a "recent lobbying campaign to gut U.S. sugar policy and outsource U.S. sugar production to heavily subsidized foreign industries," said newly elected American Sugar Alliance (ASA) Chairman Luther Markwart in a press release (here). The U.S. is one of the world's biggest sugar importers and 41 countries have access, he said. Increased sugar market access is one of the contentious issues within Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations (see 14100601). Australia in particular continues to press for more access to the U.S. market, experts say (see 1508030024). Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Sharon Bomer Lauritsen hit back at concerns over U.S. sugar concessions in remarks at the International Sweetener Symposium in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico on Aug. 3. “U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and everybody below them are committed to not doing anything in TPP that will undermine the U.S. sugar program,” she said, according to an ASA news release (here).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is still on track to hold an out-of-cycle review hearing on South African status in the African Growth and Opportunity Act on Aug. 7, said USTR in its weekly schedule (here). USTR has an extremely limited public agenda this week following the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiating round in Maui. All comments and other statements are due by Aug. 5 (see 1507200019).
The U.S. should pressure more immediate duty reductions and apparel flexibilities in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations in order to properly serve U.S. retailers, said a bipartisan group of nearly two dozen House lawmakers in a recent letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. TPP negotiations are currently poised to put in place 10-12 duty phaseouts for apparel and a strict yarn forward rule of origin, said the lawmakers, let by Reps. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and Mike Thompson, D-Calif. USTR negotiators should improve the apparel terms through full liberalization of “key products, such as cotton sweaters,” more duty cuts and preferential treatment for “cut and sew” products. The yarn forward rule aims to ensure only products wholly sourced in the exporting country receive preferences, while cut and sew rules would give that preferential access to apparel that undergoes a value change just through cutting and sewing. “U.S. apparel retailers pay hundreds of millions of dollars in duties each year; they have higher tariff liability than nearly any other sector in the U.S. economy, and their tariff liability is a hindrance to their global competitiveness,” said the letter (here). Apparel importers have long been pitted against domestic producers in fights over trade policy (see 1503260001). Several of those importers laid out their priorities to Froman in a recent letter (see 1507270017). USTR is set to wrap up the Maui TPP ministerial on July 31.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is set to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership ministerial in Maui from July 27-31, the Office of the USTR said in its weekly schedule. Froman joins high-ranking USTR officials already present at the talks. Both Acting Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler and Chief Agriculture Negotiator Darci Vetter have spent the past several days in Maui for chief negotiator meetings (see 1507200021). The agency declined to comment on progress so far during the summit. USTR officials haven’t yet vowed a conclusion of negotiations in Maui despite hopes from trade supporters that this summit will be the final TPP ministerial. Meanwhile, USTR will partake in the 8th round of World Trade Organization Environmental Goods Agreement negotiations in Geneva from July 27-31. During the week, Deputy USTR Robert Holleyman will also deliver speeches to IBM and the Select USA in Washington.
U.S. industry is burdened by import licensing delays when shipping goods to the Dominican Republic, said U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization Michael Punke in July 22 remarks at the country’s WTO trade policy review. The Dominican Republic also administers an agriculture “no-objection” permitting process that may not reflect genuine sanitary and phytosanitary concerns and “may be influenced by economic considerations,” he said (here). Punke also criticized intellectual property challenges in the Dominican Republic, such as delays in patent reviews and pharmaceutical marketing approvals, as well as pervasive counterfeit goods.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative launched an out-of-cycle review on South African eligibility in the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The agency is asking for stakeholder comments. A USTR subcommittee will convene a hearing on South African beneficiary status on Aug. 7, and those that want to attend the hearing must contact USTR by Aug. 5. All pre-hearing briefs, statements or comments are also due on that date. The deadline for post-hearing materials is Aug. 12.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative scheduled only a few public events this week, as the agency prepares to send staff to Maui, Hawaii for the heavily-anticipated Trans-Pacific Partnership ministerial summit. USTR Michael Froman and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will summit with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on July 20 in Washington and U.S. chief agriculture negotiator Darci Vetter will speak to the National Pork Producers Council on the same day, USTR said in its weekly schedule. Vetter will then travel to Maui on July 22 to join the chief negotiators meeting, which lasts from July 24-27 (see 1507070064). The ministerial will begin the following day and wrap up on the July 31. Acting Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler will then travel to Maui on July 24, USTR said.
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced country-by-country allocations of fiscal year (FY) 2016 in-quota quantity of the tariff-rate quotas for imported raw cane sugar, refined sugar, specialty sugar and sugar-containing products (here). The TRQs are effective Oct. 1. The following allocations are the same as FY15 allocations (see 14090405) and are based on historical shipment statistics: