The U.S. will host a Trans-Pacific Partnership chief negotiator meeting in Atlanta from Sept. 26-29, followed by a ministerial from Sept. 29-Oct. 1, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on Sept. 24. The American Apparel and Footwear Association predicted both negotiation rounds in recent days (see 1509220048).

The U.S. will participate in the ninth round of Environmental Goods Agreement negotiations from Sept. 16-22 in Geneva, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in its weekly schedule. Also this week, USTR Michael Froman will meet on Sept. 15 with Elzbieta Bienkowska, the European Union commissioner for industry and small and medium-sized businesses, in Washington. U.S. chief agriculture negotiator Darci Vetter will meet on the same day with the National Association of Wheat Growers in Washington. On Sept. 16, Froman will speak at the Semiconductor Industry Association. Then from Sept. 18-19 Froman will participate in an annual meeting for the U.S.-Spain Council in St. Augustine, Florida.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is asking for input as it builds its 2015 Notorious Markets List (here). The list is an out-of-cycle review based off the annual Special 301 Report. The list identifies “online and physical marketplaces that reportedly engage in and facilitate substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting,” the USTR notice said. Those commercial areas include foreign trade zones, said USTR. The 2014 Notorious Markets List, which published in March, identified counterfeit marketplaces across the globe (see 1503060033). Comments are due by Oct. 5. USTR prefers comments be submitted through www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2015-0016.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will meet with the interagency Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations on Sept. 8, the Office of the USTR said in its weekly schedule. Later that day, Froman will meet with Chairman of Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung. The U.S. is poised to allow some additional flexibilities on apparel groupings in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a critical demand from Vietnam and U.S. apparel importers (see 1508310064). Froman will then meet with a high-ranking Indonesian government official on Sept. 9. That country is not party to TPP. To top off the week, USTR for Small Business Christina Sevilla will speak to a small business conference in San Francisco on Sept. 11.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement should “not include measures restricting adoption of the Copyright Office’s recent proposals regarding orphan works,” said five groups in an Aug. 31 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (here). Orphan works are books, articles, photos, recordings and other documents that are protected by copyright held by an unknown owner. The Register of Copyrights issued a report in May that included a “variety of proposals to expand access to copyrighted works,” said the letter, signed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, Authors Alliance, Knowledge Economy International and New Media Rights. The proposals aren't law and it’s possible Congress won't act or embrace a new approach entirely, it said. Though the groups that signed the letter vary in their preferences to how the issue should be remedied, all asked that the “TPP not adopt measures that would prevent Congress from enacting these or other such provisions should they be needed at some point to expand access to orphaned copyrighted works.”

U.S. officials are pushing Trans-Pacific Partnership wildlife trafficking and "pirate fishing" rules designed to stem the flow of illegal goods from Africa and elsewhere globally, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in a blog (here) following his recent trip to Gabon for the African Growth and Opportunity Act forum (see 1508230001). "While Africa is not part of TPP, these illicit goods pass through TPP waters, ports, and countries," Froman said in the blog. "TPP’s tools can help sever the connection between source countries such as Gabon and destination countries in the Asia Pacific, making illegal trafficking more and more difficult." Froman has repeatedly over recent months touted a tough U.S. position on wildlife trafficking and illegal fishing (see 1504150027).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asked industry stakeholders to comment on Russia’s implementation of its World Trade Organization commitments. The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee will also use the stakeholder comments to craft its annual report on Russia’s WTO obligations, USTR said. The agency will also convene an Oct. 8 hearing on the matter. The 2014 report lashed into Russia for failing to meet the commitments it pledged when joining the WTO in 2012 (see 1412230061). In that report, USTR didn’t criticize Russian customs procedures, but tore into sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions on U.S. agriculture exports. Russia imposed a ban in 2014 on some U.S. agriculture after the Obama administration and allies sanctioned Russia over its involvement in the Ukraine conflict (see 14082620). Comments for the 2015 report are due on Sept. 28. USTR prefers stakeholders submit comments through www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2015-0015.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman recently asked for International Trade Commission analysis on hundreds of green goods in light of ongoing World Trade Organization negotiations on the Environmental Goods Agreement. That request follows USTR’s request earlier in August for analysis on a green goods pact struck between Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members (see 1508250029). That goods list is likely to form the basis for the EGA, officials have said. But Froman requested analysis on far more products, ranging from animal and vegetable fats to refrigerators and freezers. A USTR spokesman cautioned that the agency is not endorsing the goods listed in the request. “This is a scenario where as a matter of course we cast a very wide net and list every product mentioned by the U.S. as well as any trading partner involved in the negotiation purely for informational purposes,” he said.

The 2015 review of the Generalized System of Preferences gives stakeholders the opportunity to petition for inclusion of previously-banned travel goods in the GSP program, said the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) on Aug. 25 (here). The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative recently launched that process through a request for petitions and competitive need limitation waivers (see 1508180027).

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership with high-ranking officials from Australia, Brunei, Malaysia and New Zealand on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations economic ministerial in recent days, the Office of the USTR said late on Aug. 24. Absent from the USTR statement was any mention a meeting with Vietnamese officials, and the agency didn't provide further details on the specifics of the talks. Froman also pushed ASEAN parties to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement by the World Trade Organization's December ministerial in Nairobi. A number of important Asian countries, including ASEAN members, have recently pledged quick ratifications (see 1506150025). The WTO is aiming for TFA ratifications from two-thirds of members, the threshold for implementation, by the Nairobi ministerial. Only 12 countries including the U.S., have so far ratified (see 1508060016).