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White House sets date for Australia's prime minister to visit Trump

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will travel to the U.S. in late February to meet with President Trump, the White House said on Thursday. Turnbull said last week that the two would discuss trade during the meeting, which the White House announced would be on Feb. 23. The announcement comes on the heels of comments made by President Trump about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which have reignited discussion of whether the U.S. might find a way back in – or...

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Congressional Research Service report on the conclusion of the CPTPP


Texas oil and gas association warns against NAFTA withdrawal

The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers this week passed a resolution in support of NAFTA and laid out its priorities for a new deal, including the exclusion of a sunset provision and a zero tariff structure. “NAFTA was born on January 1, 1989, and has become a part of our daily oil business lives,” said Alliance Chairman Bob Osborne in a Feb. 1 statement on the resolution. “NAFTA is important to Texas, and if renegotiated, its impact on our markets...

Q&A: Rep. DelBene on NAFTA and digital trade

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), who last year co-founded the congressional Digital Trade Caucus, sat down in Montreal earlier this week with Inside U.S. Trade's Jack Caporal to discuss issues like data localization in the context of the NAFTA talks and the Trump administration's trade policy writ large. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation. Q: Digital trade is a big priority for you. Has that come up in conversations you’ve had here with officials from the three...

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USTR statement on the second round of KORUS talks


South Korea decries U.S. safeguard measures during second round of KORUS talks

Safeguard measures imposed by the U.S. on washers and solar cells were a key point of contention during a second U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement negotiating session in Seoul this week, according to to South Korean media reports. Investor-state dispute settlement and auto rules of origin were also discussed, with one report quoting South Korea's trade minister saying “a long road lies ahead” in the KORUS talks, expected to resume soon in Washington, DC. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative...

Freeland: Trump administration is ‘explicitly protectionist’

Two days after the sixth round of NAFTA negotiations ended with harsh words from the United States – directed mostly at Canada – Ottawa’s foreign affairs minister, Chrystia Freeland, accused the Trump administration of seeking to diminish its trade relationship with Canada and the world. “The vision of this administration is different. This is an administration that is explicitly protectionist and in many areas the objective quite explicitly is to shrink the trading relationship,” Freeland told former Treasury Secretary Jack...

Ross: TPP-11 countries ‘don’t have their act together’ yet, so next steps for U.S. unclear

The United States cannot seriously consider rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership yet because the 11 other countries haven’t yet resolved some key issues, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday. “ They don’t have their act together among themselves,” Ross told CNBC. “The so-called group of 11 is not completely resolved on its own let alone resolved relative to what concessions they might make to the United States, so it’s a little bit early to judge that one.” President Trump, in...

Trudeau predicts U.S. won't withdraw from NAFTA, says Canada has mutiple contingency plans

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doesn't think President Trump is going to withdraw from NAFTA after all, he said this week – but if he does, Canada has a Plan B, a Plan C, and more. “I don't think that the president is going to be canceling it,” he told CBC on Tuesday. Asked whether Canada had a Plan B if he does, Trudeau said “not only do we have a Plan B, we have a Plan C and D...

Documents

Congressional Research Service report on seasonal produce in NAFTA


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