The success of other World Trade Organization (WTO) priorities is contingent on full implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman at a WTO mini-ministerial meeting in Paris, France on May 7. Froman pledged further financial support to those countries that need the most facilitation development assistance. The WTO partners should also continue to work to reconcile differences on agriculture provisions as part of the Doha Round, still currently underway, said Froman.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) customs and trade facilitation chapter would ensure U.S. agricultural goods, including perishables, enter Asian-Pacific markets more efficiently and faster, said acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler at a May U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on agriculture trade policy. The chapter has not been made public to date. The intellectual property chapter also seeks to protect agricultural trademarks, while the chapter on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures aims to guarantee transparency and accountability in SPS risk determinations, added Cutler.

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman will travel to Abuja, Nigeria on May 8 to attend the World Economic Forum on Africa, said the Office of the USTR.

The Bangladeshi government announced during a recent trade forum with U.S. officials plans to eliminate tariffs and other “charges” on fire safety equipment, such as sprinklers, fire doors and electrical equipment, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said. The planned removal of the import barriers is aimed at enabling factory owners to bring conditions in line with the U.S. - Bangladesh Action Plan. Officials also discussed at the forum bilateral investment rules and intellectual property rights protection (see 14043016).

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman will travel to Paris, France on May 6-7 to participate in an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ministerial, along with a World Trade Organization mini-ministerial, according to a USTR schedule release. Froman will also meet with French Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Laurent Fabius on May 6, and participated in a launch of the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index. Froman will then participate in a May 7 WTO ministerial meeting in Paris hosted by Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb. Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler will deliver a keynote address on the Obama Administration’s trade policy agenda and the Trans-Pacific Partnership at a trade policy conference organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council. Froman participated in a host of meetings with EU officials on May 5.

The Obama administration remains committed to comprehensive elimination of tariffs on industrial and agricultural products in a final Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pact, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman told the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Berlin on May 5. But the Office of the USTR also continues to prioritize regulatory coherence in TTIP that will provide small and medium sized business on both sides of the Atlantic greater access to markets, said Froman.

U.S. and Bangladeshi officials held an inaugural trade forum on April 28 in accordance with the bilateral Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The two sides vowed to work to improve labor conditions in Bangladesh in order to restore Generalized System of Preferences eligibility, said USTR. The U.S. aims to bolster its trade relationship with Bangladesh in the following areas, said USTR:

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has determined to not list any countries as denying fair market opportunities for U.S.products, suppliers, or bidders in foreign government-funded airport construction projects. USTR is required to publicize such countries in accordance with the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982, as amended.

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman will meet on April 30 with Carlo Calenda, Italy’s Vice Minister of Economic Development, to discuss the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Office of the USTR said in its weekly schedule. Deputy Assistant USTR for Small Business Christina Sevilla will on May 1 speak at a workshop at the Embassy of Latvia on small and medium enterprises in TTIP. Ambassador Froman will on May 1 also meet with a BUSINESSEUROPE delegation to discuss TTIP issues. The events will be closed to the press. USTR recently announced the next round of TTIP negotiations will take place in May (see 14042813).

The World Trade Organization on April 25 postponed a decision on a U.S. request that the WTO create a panel on the domestic content requirements in India’s solar energy program. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) initiated consultations in February with India over the National Solar Mission, a program USTR claims violates WTO rules. The panel request indicates the consultations failed to bridge gaps. U.S. and India previously held consultations over the issue in February 2013. “India said that it was disappointed with the U.S. request to establish a panel and believed that a mutually agreed solution was still possible,” said the WTO. “India, therefore, was not in a position to agree to the establishment of a panel. In that regard, the DSB deferred the establishment of a panel to examine this matter.” USTR Michael Froman argued the forced localization barriers hike up the cost of solar energy across the globe, including in India (see 14021102).