The U.S. and African Growth and Opportunity Act beneficiary countries will meet in South Africa Nov. 2-4 to discuss how to strengthen trade and investment between the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa, and promote resilient, sustainable and inclusive economic development. “AGOA has helped to promote the export of African goods to the United States, and we believe there is scope to deepen its impact on African industrialization," South African Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel said. "An extension of AGOA beyond 2025 will promote inward investment in Africa and provide benefits to both the United States and African countries."

An official from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative told Bangladesh "that supporting workers’ rights, including freedom of association and collective bargaining, is a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration," according to a USTR readout of the Sept. 20 U.S.-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement Council meeting.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is soliciting comments on significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports of goods and services to help write the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. Comments are due by the end of the day Oct. 23, and should be submitted at regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2023-0010.

Although the office of the U.S. Representative has already received nearly 1,500 comments on "worker-centered trade," the office has re-opened comments that closed Aug. 11. It is now accepting ideas on trade policies and actions to advance racial and gender equity, advance equity for rural communities or other underserved categories, as well as ideas on how to advance these values through stakeholder engagement.

The U.S. government alleges that management at Mas Air, a cargo airline in Mexico City, coerced pilots to retain the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria Aeronautica, and asked pilots who had joined the Asociacion Sindical de Pilotos Aviadores de Mexico, or ASPA, to resign.

India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that he will "find a solution that addresses both countries' concerns" when it comes to India's new import licensing regime for technology imports. The new system is supposed to go into effect Nov. 1; U.S. technology companies have said it will hurt their exports to India (see 2308170028).

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, speaking Aug. 24 to other G-20 trade ministers, said the U.S. wants to reform the World Trade Organization by improving compliance with -- and enforcement of -- WTO members' commitments, "restoring efficacy to the negotiating arm; ... equipping the Membership to address unfair practices and global market distortions, and putting the organization on the footing to promote trade policies that build resilience and address current global challenges."

The Timber Working Group, a structure established in 2021 instead of tariffs after a Section 301 investigation on Vietnamese trading practices, discussed how Vietnam is keeping confiscated timber out of the commercial supply chain, how Vietnam verifies the legality of domestically harvested timber, and how Vietnam is "working with high-risk source countries to improve customs enforcement at the border and law enforcement collaboration."

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, after a meeting with European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis in Jaipur, India, said she and her EU counterpart asked their negotiating teams to hold sessions on both a global arrangement on sustainable steel and aluminum and on a critical minerals agreement "with an intensified pace."

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments that identify markets for inclusion in the 2023 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, it said in a notice. The Notorious Markets List identifies online and physical markets that are reported to engage in or facilitate "substantial copyright piracy or trademark counterfeiting," the notice said. Comments also are being sought about the "issue focus" for the 2023 Notorious Markets List -- the "potential health and safety risks posed by counterfeit goods," the notice said. The deadline for submitting comments is Oct. 6. "Comments must clearly identify the market and the reasons why the commenter believes that the market should be included in the Notorious Markets List," the notice said.