President Barack Obama nominated Marisa Lago to be a deputy U.S. Trade Representative on Nov. 12 (here). Lago is the assistant secretary for international markets and development at the Treasury Department and has worked in several public and private capacities. Miriam Sapiro stepped down from the deputy USTR role in February.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asked for comments on telecommunications sections of the World Trade Organization General Agreement on Trade in Services, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, as well as FTAs with Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, Korea, Morocco, Oman, Panama, Peru, and Singapore and all mutual recognition agreements that relate to telecommunications equipment (here). Comments are due by Dec. 5, and USTR will “conduct” a review by 2015. USTR prefers comments are submitted via www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2014-0022. U.S. trade law requires USTR to ask for comments on telecommunications agreements. The comments should focus on access to foreign telecommunications markets for U.S. companies.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will lead a U.S. delegation of trade officials to the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum on Nov. 25 in Delhi, the Office of the USTR said in a Nov. 6 statement (here). The two sides will try to hammer out compromises on a long list of bilateral trade issues. The forum has typically focused on hot-button areas, such as intellectual property, investment in manufacturing, agriculture, and services, said USTR. India's veto of the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement in late July has since strained bilateral relations, and the two sides, along with other WTO members, have been unable to chart a path forward. In recent weeks, U.S. industry representatives have called for progress on TFA implementation, intellectual property protections and other policy areas (see 14100624). Froman and Director-General Roberto Azevêdo recently highlighted WTO plans to consider moving forward on the TFA without all WTO members (see 1410310036).

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on Nov. 7 prodded the Chinese government to put more concessions on the table in Information Technology Agreement expansion negotiations, saying such progress would be a “concrete contribution to strengthening the WTO system at a time when such a boost is needed.” The World Trade Organization is still dealing with the late July collapse of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. While ITA expansion talks have not yielded any real breakthrough over months and years of negotiations, supporters of the agreement are eyeing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which began Nov. 7, as a window for progress (see 1411050010). Speaking at the APEC summit in Beijing, Froman also praised slashed tariffs among APEC members (here).

U.S. officials will join their Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) counterparts for a number of bilateral discussions and a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing in the coming days, said a senior U.S. trade official during a Nov. 5 conference call with reporters. The Obama administration does not expect, however, to reach a final TPP agreement with the other parties in the pact, said the senior official, who asked to stay anonymous. Administration officials are also not scheduled to meet formally with Japanese Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman met on official terms with Amari in Washington, D.C. in September, but the summit failed to yield progress on outstanding U.S.-Japanese disagreements in TPP (see 14092514).

A Mexican government decree designed to hit back against undervalued footwear imports is preventing duty reductions and boosting costs for U.S. companies, said the American Apparel and Footwear Association in comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Oct. 29 (here). USTR asked for comments in mid-August to compile its annual report on foreign trade barriers (see 14081409). Mexico issued the decree on Aug. 29 (see 14082928). Mexican Finance Secretary Luis Videgaray said around the time of the decree the government will levy a 25-30 percent tariff on footwear imports and establish a floor price for the products (here).

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will meet with Italian Ambassador to the U.S., Claudio Bisogniero, on Nov. 3, the Office of the USTR said in a weekly schedule update (here). The U.S. and European Union are continuing to negotiate the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, although USTR is battling to quell concerns over regulatory coherence and other areas of the talks (see 1410160019). Acting Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler will on the same day convene with Japanese negotiator Takeo Mori to try to advance Trans-Pacific Partnership disagreements on auto trade. Froman then travels to Beijing on Nov. 6 to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ministerial, a summit some U.S. trade supporters are eyeing as an opportunity to wind down TPP talks (see 1410300001).

U.S. trade policy continues to lag behind internet-related developments in global trade and the U.S. should cater its trade approach more for services as that sector grows at a quick pace, said the Computer and Communications Industry Association in recent comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here). USTR asked for comments in mid-August to compile its annual report on foreign trade barriers (see 14081409). "The Internet has been the single biggest component of the cross border trade in services, with many of those services facilitating the international goods trade as well,” the trade group said. “To protect U.S. economic interests, U.S. trade policy needs to prioritize addressing barriers to the Internet and Internet enabled services, given their key role in the U.S. economy and U.S. export growth.” Digital trade is inhibited by global internet infrastructure mandates for local production, filtering and blocking of internet material, poor intellectual property protections, the CCIA said. Customs procedures and small shipment tariffs are also obstacles, said the association. Several lawmakers recently asked the USTR to work to ease cross-border data flows (see 1410270005).

The Obama administration should ensure the Berry Amendment, a law that requires the Defense Department to give preferential procurement treatment to U.S. companies, is kept in place through all future free trade negotiations and pacts, said American Apparel and Footwear Association President Juanita Duggan in an Oct. 24 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (here). “As you know, the Berry Amendment is a staple provision in all U.S. [free trade agreements]," said Duggan. "Its inclusion has been a clear signal to the U.S. industry and our trading partners that the United States views the Berry Amendment as a key component of U.S. contracting law.”

The U.S. must address Japanese import restrictions for dairy products in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, alongside efforts to ensure complete tariff elimination in a final pact, said International Dairy Foods Association President Connie Tipton in a recent plea to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The group's complaint is that the Japanese Agriculture and Livestock Industries Corporation (ALIC) buys imported dairy products and sells them back to the importing companies at different rates “to account for price gaps between imported and manufactured dairy products,” says the ALIC (here). The program also administers the Japanese agricultural tariff quota. “ALIC is in total control of Japan’s dairy imports,” said Tipton. “The financial benefits of the system flow entirely to the government, after which those financial ‘gains’ are shared with Japanese dairy producers. It would be difficult to imagine an import management system that is more trade distortive than this one.” Tipton said the program could be the “Achilles heel” in TPP negotiations. Other trade groups have asked that Japanese trade programs be taken up in TPP negotiations. The National Pork Producer’s Council, for example, recently called for the removal of a Japanese trade program, the Japanese Gate System, as part of TPP talks (see 14081418).