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Malaysian Trade Minister Sees Need To Enter TPP Talks In Near Term

Malaysian Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamed last week said that he believes it is critically important that Malaysia join the talks to establish a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement in the near term, in part because it will be easier to help shape the agenda at an early stage. "[I]f we come aboard at a much later stage ... it is going be more difficult," he said in a Sept. 22 interview with Inside U.S. Trade . "People who come on board...

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U.S. Presses Ahead In NAFTA On Tuna-Dolphin Dispute With Mexico


Costa Rican Trade Minister Says U.S. Will Delay Decision On Labor Complaint

The U.S. Department of Labor has decided to delay for eight months a decision on whether to review a union petition which alleges that Costa Rica violated the labor rules of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), according to Costa Rican Trade Minister Anabel Gonzalez. In an Sept. 17 interview with Inside U.S. Trade , Gonzalez said Costa Rica opposes a delay to next April because it believes the complaint is without merit. The Costa Rican government wanted the...

Coalition Urges U.S. To Forge New Regulatory Coherence Chapter In TPP

U.S. business groups supporting Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement talks are urging the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to create a separate TPP chapter to deal with regulatory coherence, and also want negotiators to come to the table with specific regulatory improvements they are prepared to make in different sectors. In a Sept. 10 draft document obtained by Inside U.S. Trade , these groups argue that "serious consideration" should be given as to whether or not a corresponding new chapter...

U.S. Mulls NAFTA-Like Marking Rules To Determine Tariffs Under TPP

One consequence of the U.S. preference for negotiating bilaterally with countries on the topic of goods market access within the talks to establish a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is that U.S. importers may have to use special "marking rules" to determine the appropriate tariff facing a good qualifying for TPP benefits, sources said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative this week said that it would conduct goods market access negotiations bilaterally with the three TPP countries with which it...

U.S. To Table Services, IPR Texts, 'Elements Papers' At Next TPP Round

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will table a bracketed services text and a text on the protection of intellectual property rights when it meets in Brunei early next month with other countries participating in talks to establish a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement for a third formal negotiating round, sources said. One source said the services text will largely resemble the services text negotiated by the U.S. under the pending Korea free trade agreement. The IPR text will not...

Michaud Seeking Support For Letter Requesting Changes To KORUS FTA

A "dear colleague" letter circulated this week by the office of Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME) is urging House members to sign on to a letter to President Obama and Korean President Lee Myung-bak asking for substantive changes to the text of the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement. The letter is to be signed by both U.S. and South Korean legislators. A draft of the letter asks both presidents to include in the FTA explicit language that both countries will maintain high...

Congressional Dairy Farmers Caucus Pushes USTR On Korea FTA Issue

The Congressional Dairy Farmers Caucus plans to send a letter on Sept. 27 to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk urging him to ensure that South Korean implementing regulations for its free trade agreement with the European Union do not undermine U.S. expected benefits under the U.S.-South Korea FTA, sources said. "We urge you to continue in your efforts to engage with your South Korean counterparts to ensure that as the Koreans develop the domestic implementing regulations on [geographic indications], those...

Camp Says Republican Ways and Means Committee Would Hold FTA Hearings

Ways and Means Ranking Member David Camp (R-MI) told a Washington audience Sept. 22 that his first priority should Republicans take control of the House of Representatives would be to schedule hearings on the Colombia, Korea and Panama free trade agreements. In remarks before the Coalition of Service Industries, he also deplored the fact that Ways and Means has not yet called U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to testify on trade issues. He said that the president should pledge to...

USTR Weighs New Demand On Duty Drawback To Korea Auto Issues

The Office of U.S. Trade Representative is weighing whether to make a new demand to South Korea in the context of improving the automotive provisions of the pending bilateral free trade agreement, according to informed sources. USTR is now weighing whether it should press South Korea to accept limits on the amount of duty drawback it provides to domestic automakers for imported parts they incorporate into automobiles exported to the U.S., they said. The issue of duty drawback was a...

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