A meeting in Toronto Oct. 5 between Canadian softwood lumber industry representatives and top U.S. and Canadian trade officials did not yield a new Softwood Lumber Agreement before a one-year ban on trade cases expires Oct. 13, but the countries are still negotiating, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman indicated in an emailed statement. Froman, Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Matthew Vogel and Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland met with Canadian softwood industry officials in Toronto, an event Froman called a “valuable next step” in the U.S.’s and Canada’s attempts to secure a deal. “Our mandate continues to be to reach a new agreement that will maintain Canadian exports at or below an agreed upon U.S. market share,” Froman said. “While important differences remain in the approaches of our two countries, we will continue to engage with Canada to find a path forward that is acceptable to all parties." Forty-one House lawmakers on Sept. 28 sent a bipartisan letter urging Froman to ensure that bilateral negotiations over Canadian softwood lumber shipments result in such a cap (see 1610030007).

The Obama administration requested special World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body meetings to adopt the compliance panel report in the successful U.S. challenge of European subsidies for Airbus commercial aircraft (see 1609220032), and to adopt the panel and WTO Appellate Body reports in the winning U.S. challenge of Indian local content requirements for solar products (see 1609190043), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). The U.S. urged the EU to accept the panel’s findings in the Airbus case, and to work with the U.S. to eliminate all incompliant subsidies, USTR said, but the EU can still appeal the panel’s findings. The WTO will automatically adopt the panel and appellate body reports pertaining to the India case, because the U.S. request was issued within 30 days of circulation of the Appellate Body report, USTR said.

U.S. and EU officials are meeting in New York throughout this week to discuss the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here), as already contentious negotiations have recently slowed amid widespread citizen outcry in the EU and public criticisms from top French officials (see 1608300017). EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom on Sept. 23 acknowledged that negotiations are unlikely to conclude before the end of the Obama administration, but defended the continuance of talks (see 1609260023). National Association of Manufacturers Director for International Trade Policy Ken Monahan said the organization will follow the New York round, and called on TTIP negotiators to resist any inclinations to secure a deal that doesn’t contain ambitious standards in areas including tariffs, intellectual property, investment, binding enforcement, and “regulatory, standards and non-tariff disciplines” (here). Monahan indicated concern that a recent set of EU proposals (here) on technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, regulatory cooperation, and “related chapters on specific sectors” could yield weaker provisions in those areas than the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “Given the current global environment of lower growth and increasing barriers to trade, it is now more important than ever to push for an ambitious TTIP that will meaningfully boost economic growth and opportunity,” Monahan said.

Competitive advantages that African Growth and Opportunity Act countries derive from U.S.-initiated tariff benefits may fade as more countries trend toward free trade agreements, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said during the AGOA Forum Sept. 26 (here). Sourcing decisions may also increasingly lean toward other considerations, such as reputational risk and ease of doing business, he said. Despite the benefits of AGOA, Froman noted that “only a handful” of beneficiaries fully utilize AGOA apparel provisions.

Reducing African freight costs, averaging 11.4 percent of cargo value, would facilitate U.S. trade in the region and save African about $11 billion per year, according to a report on U.S. trade with Africa released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here). The USTR recommended a number of trade facilitation and other measures to bolster U.S. trade with Africa, as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by itself will not likely achieve “transformative changes” in trade and investment on the continent, the report says.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Sept. 22 released a proposed rule (here) that would dictate how the agency handles requests to furnish records, information or testimony in formal proceedings in which the U.S. isn’t a named party. The rule would ban USTR employees from producing these types of documentation in response to demands or requests unless they conform with the rule’s blueprint and USTR gives permission for providing the information. The proposed rule outlines information needed from requesting parties and factors USTR’s general counsel might consider when evaluating demands or requests. Pursuant to the rule, 15 CFR part 2004 will be reorganized to include all rules covering disclosure of records and information by USTR, the proposed rule says. A separate proposed rule (here) released Sept. 23 details how protocols for Freedom of Information Act requests and disclosures will fit in with the part 2004 rewrite. The agency will accept public comments on the FOIA rule until Nov. 22, and on the other proposed rule until Nov. 21, USTR said.

Officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have garnered widespread support from the financial services community for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and are still working to resolve lawmakers’ concerns about biologics data protections in the agreement, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman said during a speech Sept. 20. To build further support for approval of the pact before the end of 2016, USTR officials have been “fanning out around the country” over the last month to make its case to different groups about “why trade matters,” which has generated grassroots support for the agreement, Holleyman said during an address at the International Bar Association conference in Washington. The pact brings strategic benefits for the U.S., which would foster closer economic ties with the Asia-Pacific region, the fastest-growing part of the world, as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has emphasized, Holleyman added. “It’s our hope that, through that combination, through the broad understanding that members of Congress have had, as they’ve now seen this agreement for nearly a year, that they can now understand what it means for their homes, for their districts, and that we will have the support we need in Congress,” he said.

A World Trade Organization Appellate Body found in favor of the Obama administration’s challenge to Indian domestic content requirements that developers of solar products in that country use Indian-manufactured cells and modules, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). The appellate body rejected all of India’s defensive arguments, USTR said. India filed a notice of appeal April 20, after the WTO in February ruled in favor of the U.S. (see 1604220010). U.S. solar exports to India have dropped by more than 90 percent since the 2011 enactment of India’s National Solar Mission, USTR said. “Local content requirements are not only contrary to WTO rules, but actually undermine our efforts to promote clean energy by requiring the use of more expensive and less efficient equipment, making it more difficult for clean energy sources to be cost-competitive,” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a statement.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom met in Brussels Sept. 15 to take stock of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations, and will next meet for a formal discussion of the pact in New York on Oct. 3, the EU said (here). "We had a good meeting where we reviewed the substantial progress being made and discussed next steps for moving forward,” they said in a statement. “We have directed our teams to make as much progress as possible during the next round, scheduled for the week of October 3 in New York."

The U.S. and 12 other World Trade Organization members are jointly launching plurilateral negotiations in Geneva to ban subsidies for fisheries worldwide, 60 percent of which are being overfished, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). The members also plan a push for bolstering international standards regarding the reporting and transparency of fishery subsidies, as tens of billions of dollars in these subsidies contribute to overfishing and overcapacity, disadvantaging U.S. fishing industries, among other things, USTR said. Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Singapore, Switzerland and Uruguay are joining the U.S. in this effort. "The United States has been a leader on this issue,” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a statement. “We are eager to join with similarly committed WTO Members to negotiate new rules that will help protect the marine environment and allow American fishermen and women to compete on a fair and level playing field." U.S. fishing industries in 2014 exported an estimated $5.8 billion in edible fish products around the world, USTR said.