Obama Administration officials outlined the threat to international trade stemming from data localization laws in foreign countries, at a Brookings Institution event Thursday (here). Some countries have sought to restrict the flow of data across borders in reaction to NSA surveillance activities revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden, said Richard Salgado, Google law enforcement and information security legal director. Those policies can harm the U.S. economy and hamper the open Internet standards the administration seeks to secure, said administration officials.

U.S. and Japanese negotiators failed to make any progress in Trans-Pacific Partnership market access and non-tariff barrier talks during two days of meetings, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a Sept. 24 statement. USTR Michael Froman and Japanese Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari, along with their teams, met from Sept. 23-24, but the two sides “were unable to make further progress on the key outstanding issues,” said USTR, saying the focus was on agriculture and autos. In the days before those Sept. 23-24 talks, however, “constructive” mid-level negotiations did take place, the statement added. “Both sides will consider next steps following consultations in both capitals,” it said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sept. 23 said Japan made a proposal to the U.S. that included more agricultural market liberalization (see 14092418). The U.S. and Japan have battled for months over Japanese tariffs on rice, beef and pork, wheat, dairy and sugar imports in TPP (see 14091028). "I had hoped [Japan's new proposal] would lead [negotiations] to the next stage, but there was a gap in our discussions," Amari told Japanese reporters after the talks (here).

Growth in U.S. trade with Mongolia will depend on how that country cultivates its mining sector, said U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, Michael Punke, at the outset of the WTO trade policy review of the central Asian country. “Since 2010, Mongolia has experienced double-digit GDP growth, led by higher commodity prices for copper, gold, zinc, coal and other minerals and by large capital inflows supporting Mongolia’s pursuit of world-class mining development projects,” he said on Sept. 24. But bilateral trade with the U.S. topped off at only slightly more than $700 million in 2012, said Punke. On top of corruption, weak rule of law and other obstacles to economic growth, planned revamping of Mongolia’s 2006 Minerals Law is posing particular challenges to that sector, Punke added. “Officials at all levels of government now delay or even refuse to process normal requests for extending or issuing exploration and mining licenses, ostensibly out of concern that actions taken under the current law might eventually become invalid or require alteration under the new law being considered,” said Punke. “The effect has been to generate long and costly bureaucratic delays in several commercial sectors, which has increased investment risk.”

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is asking the public to comment on internet forums and physical markets outside the U.S. that should be included in USTR’s Notorious Markets List. The list includes marketplaces that are involved in copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting. Those who are interested are able to send in comments through Oct. 24, via www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR--2014--0017. The 2013 list called out physical marketplaces in Argentina, China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain, Thailand and Ukraine (see 14021211).

Nearly 40 agricultural companies and associations pushed U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on Sept. 19 to keep fighting against unreasonable Indian demands at the World Trade Organization. India torpedoed the TFA in late July, after refusing to support one procedural stage of the ratification process (see 14091813).

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke launched the 8th round of Trade in Services Agreement negotiations on Sept. 21 in Geneva, and the talks will continue through Sept. 25, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in its weekly schedule. From Sept. 23-24, USTR Michael Froman will then meet with Japanese Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari. The U.S. and Japan have yet to broker compromise in Trans-Pacific Partnership market access and auto talks (see 14091028). Among other USTR events this week, Deputy Assistant USTR for Small Business Christina Sevilla will speak about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to the Poland Small and Medium Enterprise Congress in Katowice, Poland. There are no USTR events scheduled from Sept. 24 to the end of the week.

The U.S. will host the seventh round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks in Chevy Chase, Maryland from Sept. 29-Oct. 3. The last round, held in July, yielded progress on trade facilitation text, an EU official said (see 14072111)]. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not mention focus areas for negotiations in its announcement.

The primary goal of U.S. trade policy is to support the U.S. economy, but strategic and foreign policy objectives also benefit from U.S. free trade agreements, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in Sept. 18 remarks at the Chamber of Commerce. A strengthened U.S. economy does enable “military might,” but the administration’s pivot to East Asia, partially through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, is reliant on bringing Asian standards to U.S. levels. “Those standards that we are seeking include are the highest labor and environmental standards of any trade agreement -- standards that will be fully enforceable,” said Froman. “They include advancements in intellectual property rights protection, both to spur innovation and ensure access to it. This agreement will include the first-ever disciplines on state-owned enterprises, which will ensure that when SOEs compete against private firms, they do so on a commercial basis.” Vietnam is still, however, insisting on mass SOE exemptions in the TPP agreement, observers say (see 14091028).

Taiwan continues to be an active participant in World Trade Organization multilateral and plurilateral negotiations, namely on the Trade Facilitation Agreement, said Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke at the WTO review of Taiwan on Sept. 16. The country is a staunch supporter of the Environmental Goods Agreement, as well as the Information Technology Agreement and Trade in Services Agreement, Punke added.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will meet with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh on Sept. 15, following the recent Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiating round in Hanoi, said the Office of the USTR in a weekly schedule release. Froman will then participate on Sept. 17 in two public events, one hosted by the No Labels Foundation. The other is drawing together lawmakers, officials and associations to boost support for the World Trade Organization Environmental Goods Agreement. From Sept. 17-18, Acting Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler will travel to Delhi to meet with Indian officials on a broad range of trade issues. USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator Darci Vetter on Sept. 18 will then travel to China with Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Michael Scuse to co-chair a sanitary and phytosanitary barriers working group, meet with an Agriculture Ministry official and participate in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Froman will also meet with the American Meat Institute and Canadian Meat Council on Sept. 19 in Washington D.C. before meeting with Indonesian Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi.