April 2009 News

Commerce Secretary Locke Meets with China’s Minister of Commerce
On April 27, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke held his first meeting with China Minister of Commerce Chen Deming at the Commerce Department. During their meeting, Secretary Locke and Minister Chen reaffirmed the commitment of both governments to continuing to build a positive and cooperative relationship that strengthens trade and creates jobs in the United States and China. The two leaders underscored the importance of achieving concrete results at the next meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade and discussed issues such as increasing U.S. exports to China and the need to avoid protectionism.
View Commerce press release

United States and Peru Discuss Implementation of TPA

Environmental Commitments

U.S. and Peru representatives met April 13-17 in Peru to continue their discussions on the Forest Sector (Logging) Annex to the Environment Chapter of the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA). The U.S. delegation, led by USTR, held meetings with GOP entities and Regional governments responsible for implementing the PTPA’s commitments under the Annex. In addition, both the U.S. and Peru delegations held their first-ever joint open forum with civil society, including the private sector and non-governmental organizations, to discuss progress made to date and address concerns related to the implementation process. USTR continues to work closely with the Government of Peru to ensure that the environmental obligations under the PTPA are successfully implemented in a transparent manner. The United States looks forward to hosting the next meeting between civil society and government officials from both countries in Washington, D.C. in June.

View USTR press release

Secretary Locke’s Statement on World Intellectual Property Day
View the text of a statement released by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on World Intellectual Property Day. Noting the toll that counterfeiting and piracy are taking on American industry and workers, “costing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year,” the Secretary stated, “The Department of Commerce is working to combat this problem through trade agreement compliance, active engagement with foreign leaders, and educational outreach.”

U.S. Trade Representative Kirk Announces Delay of Trade Action in Beef Hormones Dispute
On April 22, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced that due to recent signs of progress in negotiations with the EU, the United States is delaying the imposition of additional duties on a modified list of EU products in connection with WTO dispute settlement rulings in the EU – Beef Hormones dispute.  Under a determination announced on January 15, 2009, the additional duties were to go into effect on April 23, 2009. Ambassador Kirk announced that the United States will delay the trade action until May 9, to provide a little more time to negotiate a settlement with the EU. He stated, “The EU has demonstrated seriousness in their efforts to solve this problem, and two additional weeks should be sufficient to establish whether we can address the remaining issues successfully.” View USTR press release

Commerce Secretary Locke Addresses Motion Picture Summit

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke discussed the motion picture industry’s importance to the U.S. economy at the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) Second Biennial Industry Summit on April 21. “Movies and TV shows are direct products of the freedoms we enjoy; that’s part of why they’re so popular around the world,” Locke said. “The Obama administration is well aware of the impact of counterfeiting and piracy on our industries and workers, and we’re working to combat it.” The Secretary commented on the increasing importance of the international market for the film and television industry, noting that approximately 95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside U.S. borders.

View Commerce press release

United States and Mauritius Strengthen Cooperation on Trade and Investment

View the text of the USTR press release regarding the April 21 meeting of U.S. and Mauritian officials to review progress in implementing a workplan developed under the United States – Mauritius Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). This was the third meeting of the high-level TIFA Council created under the 2006 agreement. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Florizelle Liser and Mauritian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration, and International Trade Arvind Boolell co-led the discussions, which focused on cooperation in the WTO, implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, export diversification, trade and investment promotion, and economic development.

United States and Rwanda Review Progress on Bilateral Trade and Investment

On April 16, U.S. and Rwandan officials met in Kigali to review progress in deepening their partnership on trade and investment under the United States-Rwanda Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. This was the third meeting of the United State-Rwanda TIFA Council, which provides a high-level forum for advancing cooperation on bilateral trade and investment issues. Assistant USTR for Africa Florizelle Liser and Rwandan Trade and Industry Minister Monique Nsanzabaganwa co-chaired the meeting, which examined the two governments’ work together on implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, cooperation in the WTO, trade capacity building, export diversification, trade and investment promotion, and infrastructure issues. Discussions under the TIFA led to negotiations on a United States-Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty, which was signed in February 2008. Several leading U.S. companies are currently examining possible investment opportunities in Rwanda in sectors such as energy, information technology, minerals and mining, and agriculture.

View USTR press release

USTR Request for Comments: Canadian Compliance with Softwood Lumber Agreement

View the text of USTR’s Federal Register notice announcing the amount of compensation to be collected on lumber products imported from the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan as an award for U.S. rights denied by Canada under the U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement. After a Section 302 investigation, USTR determined that a 10 percent ad valorem duty will be imposed until such time as the United States has collected $54.8 million—the amount determined by an arbitral tribunal. Interested persons are invited to submit comments on the determinations in this investigation, and to participate in a public hearing in the event a hearing is requested. For information on submitting comments, please refer to the Federal Register notice.

Senior U.S. Trade Officials Call for Opening World Markets in Statements on February 2009 Trade Numbers

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk have issued statements commenting on February 2009 trade data showing that U.S. exports increased by 1.6 percent to $126.8 billion since January 2009 while imports decreased 5.1 percent to $152.7 billion. Overall, the trade deficit shrank 28.3 percent during the same time period. Noting the steps the Administration is taking to create American jobs and jump start local economies, the Secretary stated, “We must continue to increase exports by fostering innovation—a goal in which the Recovery Act makes important investments—and breaking down barriers to U.S. goods and services.” Ambassador Kirk commented, “these numbers reflect the ongoing contraction in world trade overall. This new trade data underscores the need to open more world markets to U.S. farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and service providers, and to work with our trading partners to grow the global trading system again.”

View Secretary Locke’s statement

View USTR Kirk’s statement

United States Imposes Tariffs On Softwood Lumber From Four Canadian Provinces
On April 7, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced that the United States is imposing 10 percent ad valorem customs duties on imports of softwood lumber products from four Canadian provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan).  The United States is exercising its right to take this action in response to Canada’s failure to cure a breach of the 2006 U.S. - Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement and failure to impose the compensatory measures determined by the Tribunal.  These duties will remain in place until such time as the United States has collected $54.8 million. View USTR press release

USTR Releases Summary of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Negotiations
On April 6, USTR released a detailed summary of the current state of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. The summary, which all of the ACTA negotiating partners drafted, sets out the specific topics under discussion in the negotiations, and reflects the Obama Administration's commitment to transparency. The summary is being shared with stakeholders for review and comment. The objective of the ACTA negotiations is to negotiate a new, state-of-the art agreement to combat counterfeiting and piracy. The United States has been working with several trading partners, including Australia, Canada, the European Union and its 27 member states, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Switzerland, to negotiate the agreement. When it is finalized, the ACTA is intended to assist in the efforts of governments around the world to more effectively combat the proliferation of counterfeit and pirated goods. View USTR press release

Ambassador Kirk Announces Results of Annual 1377 Review
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced the results of the 2009 annual review of the operation and effectiveness of telecommunications trade agreements under Section 1377 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (“1377 Review”) on April 6. The Report of the 1377 Review identifies barriers facing U.S. telecommunications service and equipment suppliers, evaluates progress toward resolving ongoing problems, and lays out specific telecommunications-related issues on which USTR will focus its monitoring and enforcement efforts this year. This year’s Report focuses on a broad range of concerns, including issues with major suppliers (Australia, Colombia, Germany, India, Mexico, Singapore, and Sweden) when trying to lease parts of an incumbent operator’s network, and transparency and regulatory independence (China, Egypt, Germany, India, Israel, Mexico and South Africa) where independent regulatory agencies need strengthening and whose transparency policies need improvement. In addition to the problems identified in this year’s Report, USTR also marks progress with Oman, which eliminated unreasonably high licensing fees prior to entry into force of the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement.  View USTR press release