The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Commerce Department, and “other U.S. Government agencies” will on April 12 convene a public hearing on the global steel industry situation and its effects on the U.S. steel industry and market, USTR said (here). In addition to China, whose steel exports have risen 26 percent between 2014 and 2015, EU, India, South Korea and Brazil steel production is affecting the world market and entering the U.S. as well, USTR said. The hearing will not explore any ongoing AD/CVD investigations or administrative reviews.

The U.S. needs to "to take all actions necessary" to address a recent spike in the number of counterfeit footwear products, the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America said to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as part of the agency's Special 301 Subcommittee hearing on March 1. The brands and products of the FDRA's member companies "support thousands of American jobs -- jobs that are put at risk by counterfeiting and piracy,” said the group's president Matthew Priest in a news release. “Seizures of counterfeit footwear increased by 356% during the latest three-year reporting period, and footwear went from being the twelfth most-seized product for IP violations in the world to the sixth -- a stunning increase over a three year period.” The USTR each year identifies "countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property protection," and recently received written stakeholder comments on the issue.

After a long hiatus, U.S. meat products hit store shelves in South Africa recently, which could equate to an additional $160 million in yearly exports from the U.S., U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on a conference call March 2. Froman was joined by Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Chris Coons, D-Del., who worked alongside USTR during negotiations, using the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) as leverage to open up the South African market to U.S. products. “This was a team effort,” Isakson said. “We used the African Growth and Opportunity Act, its extension, to be a platform from which we tried to negotiate a favorable outcome for domestic poultry in the United States. And the end result is that’s exactly what happened."

The U.S. and EU made "significant advances in the regulatory area" last week during the latest round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Treaty in Brussels, as both parties hope to reach "an advanced stage of text consolidation across the board" by July, narrowing negotiations to the most sensitive issues in hopes of concluding negotiations by the end of 2016, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement released Feb. 29 (here). The U.S. and EU progressed in hashing out common objectives they want to achieve in the automobile, pharmaceutical, and medical device sections of the deal, and the U.S. put forth "substantive proposals" on customs and trade facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and rules of origin, USTR said. The office reiterated that it seeks an elimination on all tariffs between the U.S. and EU, despite the two parties agreeing to an elimination of only 97 percent of tariffs during the last TTIP negotiating round in October. "We want to finish this year, but we do not favor an 'early harvest' or a 'T-TIP light,'" USTR said. "We want an ambitious, comprehensive and high standard agreement."

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asked Peru to verify that a 2015 timber shipment from that country to the U.S. complied with Peruvian laws and regulations, USTR said (here). “Today’s announcement is an important step forward in our shared commitment to combat illegal logging, which threatens our environment and the legitimate businesses that are abiding by the rules,” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with Peru as it conducts this verification.” The move drew praise from Congressional Democrats, including Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden, Ore., and House Ways and Means Ranking Member Sandy Levin, Mich.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, as part of its 2015/2016 Generalized System of Preferences Annual Product Review, published a breakdown of 2015 import statistics (here). The agency lists six items set to be removed from GSP eligibility (though four have pending petitions for waivers), 103 products eligible for a de minimis waiver, and 145 non-GSP-eligible products that might be reconsidered for GSP designation. Re-designations could be given based on 2015 trade data and consideration of certain statutory factors, USTR said. USTR will accept public comments until April 1 regarding possible de minimis competitive needs limitation waivers (CNL) and potential re-designations, the agency said in a notice (here).

The Trans-Pacific Partnership picked up another big-name endorsement, as the American Farm Bureau Federation in a Feb. 23 statement (here) expressed its support, and cited an in-house study (here) that found the pact will bolster yearly farm income in the U.S. by $4.4 billion. Farm prices for corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, beef, pork, poultry, butter, cheese, nonfat dry milk, and all milk will rise, according to the study. The Farm Bureau added that it expects TPP to boost net trade for rice, cotton, beef, pork, poultry, butter, cheese, soybeans, and nonfat dry milk, but anticipates a 45.3-million-bushel decrease in the global corn trade. However, corn revenues are projected to spike by $680 million per year and prices expected to rise by 5 cents per bushel, because of a likely increase in domestic feed use in conjunction with the envisioned increase of beef and pork exports, the Farm Bureau said. President Barack Obama said he plans to submit TPP enactment legislation to Congress by the end of this year (see 1602230019).

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Lao Minister of Industry and Commerce Khemmani Pholsena on Feb. 18 signed a bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, which will create a forum for the two countries to engage on issues such as capacity building and intellectual property, and to coordinate on multilateral and regional issues, including those that involve the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a press release. “Today’s agreement provides a vehicle for strengthening U.S.-Lao trade and investment relations,” Froman said in a statement. “It reflects President Obama’s commitment to ASEAN and it will promote increased economic opportunities between us.” Bilateral trade between the U.S. and Laos has increased five-fold since 2011 to $70 million, including an 800 percent increase in agricultural trade, to $8 million.

On the heels of the U.S.’ Feb. 4 signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 other pact nations, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on Feb. 12 during a speech in Munich (here) charged forward the Obama Administration’s campaign for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, saying it can strengthen a U.S.-European Union relationship that sees $2 billion of goods traded across the Atlantic Ocean every day. “After making steady progress for more than two and a half years, we have the opportunity to bring these negotiations to a successful close. The Obama Administration is prepared to make every effort to conclude T-TIP, but to do so, we need both sides to apply the necessary political will,” Froman said. A “strong, unified and confident Europe is very much in the interest of the United States and the broader international community.”

Counterfeiting and failure by foreign governments to implement or enforce laws to counter the crimes are harming U.S. businesses, industry said in comments filed on Feb. 5 to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here). USTR asked for industry comments to help craft its 2016 Special 301 Review of Notorious Markets. Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Ukraine, and Venezuela should be added to the watch list; and China, Honduras, Philippines, Russia, and Turkey should be added to the priority watch list, the American Apparel and Footwear Association said in its comments (here).