Most U.S.-EU trade proceeds without complication, but the U.S. is “frustrated” by agricultural tariffs and illogical sanitary/phytosanitary (SPS) regulations in the EU, Christopher Wilson, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative deputy chief of the U.S. Mission to Geneva, said at the 2017 EU Trade Policy Review at the World Trade Organization (here). “Given the EU’s importance in the global trading system, both as a commercial power and as a supporter of a rules-based system for regulating trade, we worry about the proliferation of trade restrictions that are based on factors other than the objective criteria offered by scientific assessments of risk, as required under the WTO SPS Agreement,” Wilson said. The U.S. also has broad concerns about EU policies and procedures to develop and implement regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures, as well as concerns about measures that affect U.S. exporters in several sectors, including chemicals and wine, Wilson said. The EU also requires certain trading partners to automatically protect EU geographical indications without “adequate consideration” of prior trademark rights and generic terms, which generates barriers to U.S. trade in third countries, he said.
US Trade Representative (USTR)
A U.S. Cabinet level position which serves as the President's primary representative, negotiator, and spokesperson regarding U.S. trade policy. The USTR heads the Office of the United States Trade Representative which develops and coordinates U.S. policy for international trade, commodities, and direct investments, as well as overseeing trade negotiations with other countries.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, at the direction of President Donald Trump, is calling for a U.S.-South Korea joint committee meeting under U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement Article 22.2 to start renegotiating and amending the agreement, a Trump administration official said in an email. The joint committee under KORUS comprises the U.S. trade representative and South Korea’s minister of trade, or their designees, and meets yearly, unless the parties decide otherwise, or within 30 days upon either party’s request. “USTR will request a meeting,” the official said. “Once a formal request is sent, the date(s) and arrangements of the Joint Committee will then be determined and announced.”
U.S. and Indonesian government officials met June 12-13 under their bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, and agreed on next steps for resolving bilateral issues and further building trade relations, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). U.S. officials outlined the Trump administration’s focus on “making concrete progress” on agriculture, high-tech products, and digital and financial services, among other areas, USTR said. The two nations discussed a work plan to address IP concerns, “recognizing the urgency of progress,” as USTR listed Indonesia on its Special 301 Priority Watch List (see 1704280026). U.S. and Indonesian officials also met with stakeholders from both countries on key trade issues of concern, USTR said.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will lead the U.S. delegation at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council meeting June 7-8 in Paris, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here). Lighthizer will advocate at the meeting for “free and fair trade policies” that eliminate trade barriers and reduce trade deficits, USTR said. Lighthizer will meet bilaterally with several key trading partners on the margins of the OECD meeting, USTR said.
Renegotiation of NAFTA’s agricultural provisions could merely consist of fine-tuning those parts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said during a House Agriculture Committee hearing (here) May 17. “You might see a trilateral TPP” in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation, he said. “I’m just suggesting that. But many of the principles that you all [spear]headed in negotiations are still viable. It’s just a matter of fine-tuning those in a way that makes sense.”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer formally notified Congress on May 18 that the Trump administration intends to start renegotiating NAFTA as early as Aug. 16. In letters (here) to congressional leaders, Lighthizer said the renegotiation will aim to modernize NAFTA provisions on customs procedures, intellectual property rights and other issues. The letters state that “aggressive enforcement” is “vital” to the U.S.’s ability to hold Canada and Mexico accountable for their commitments under the deal, and that the U.S. will work to improve NAFTA enforcement provisions. Lighthizer wrote that the administration intends to conclude negotiations in a “timely and substantive” manner “consistent with U.S. priorities and the negotiating objectives established by the Congress in statute.”
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., reacted favorably to the Department of the Treasury’s progress report on initial actions taken under the bilateral U.S.-China 100-day plan on economic cooperation reached in April (see 1704100008). Among other things, a Treasury fact sheet described pathways that the U.S. would take to open its market to Chinese cooked poultry imports and that China would take to open its market to U.S. beef imports (see 1705120003). Roberts in a statement (here) said ongoing discussions between the two nations could have “tremendous benefits for agriculture.” “Negotiating market access for U.S. beef products into China has been a prolonged effort, and I will remain cautiously optimistic until I see the first shipment of American beef land in China,” Roberts said. “USDA and USTR, along with the Departments of Commerce and Treasury, have made great strides thus far. Having U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer and the newly created Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs on board will bolster those activities. I’m hopeful they’ll get to work on other export markets as well.”
U.S. and Thai trade officials met April 3 in Bangkok under the U.S.-Thailand Trade and Investment Framework Agreement to discuss outstanding issues and trade expansion, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement (here). U.S. officials underscored the Trump administration’s priority on strengthening ties with the Asia-Pacific region, including bilateral initiatives “aimed at promoting economic growth, job creation, and competitiveness,” as well as addressing unfair trade practices. Officials discussed customs, agricultural, intellectual property, labor, financial services and other barriers facing U.S. exports to Thailand, USTR said. The nation is the U.S.’s 21st-largest trading partner, as two-way goods trade totaled $40 billion in 2016.
Guatemala will accelerate tariff elimination on exports of fresh, frozen and chilled chicken leg quarters, after officials from the nations negotiated since February on the matter, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). U.S. poultry exports would have faced a 12.5 percent tariff in Guatemala without the agreement, USTR said. From now through Dec. 31, 2021, Guatemala will allow imports of 1,000 metric tons of processed chicken leg quarters to enter duty-free annually under a tariff-rate quota. The TRQ and all tariffs will be eliminated on Jan. 1, 2022. Chicken leg quarters composed $82 million, or approximately 8 percent, of the U.S.’s more than $1.1 billion in agricultural exports to Guatemala last year, and U.S. poultry exporters had a 98 percent market share of all imports of chicken leg quarters into Guatemala in 2016, USTR said.
U.S. trade officials met with Afghan counterparts on March 27 and 28 in Kabul to discuss customs, trade facilitation, government procurement procedures, intellectual property, U.S. assistance for Afghanistan's accession to the World Trade Organization, and other bilateral trade and investment issues, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said in a statement (here). The U.S. and Afghanistan also talked about opportunities for Afghanistan's expanded use of the Generalized System of Preferences, the need for full implementation of the 2010 Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement, and the role of women in growing trade. In 2016, the U.S. exported $913 million in goods to Afghanistan and imported $34 million in goods from the country, USTR said.