Thursday

The United States government has been condemned by nearly one hundred civil society and HIV/AIDS treatment groups operating in poor Asia-Pacific and sub-Saharan African countries for resisting a proposal that would indefinitely absolve least-developed countries (LDCs) of their drug-related obligations under the TRIPS Agreement. In an Oct. 21 letter addressed to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization Michael Punke, the groups say they are "shocked and outraged" by the U.S. insistence on a...

The Canadian government and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have for the first time provided the specific volume numbers for the market access that Canada has granted for imports of dairy and poultry in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, showing that liquid milk will get the most access with 50,000 metric tons after a five-year phase-in. The newly released information also shows that the tariff rate quotas (TRQ) for imported products subject to supply management in Canada will grow...

Canada will offer what senior officials said was limited additional market access for all of its supply managed products of dairy, poultry and eggs by creating new tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that would be phased in over five years in equal increments and be open to all parties. A fact sheet released by Canada's Department of Foreign, Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) on Oct. 5 says the access will be defined as a percentage of...

Selected members of the World Trade Organization participating in the negotiations for an Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) have taken the first step toward narrowing the potential product scope of the initiative from 665 by grouping items with the broadest backing into one list and relegating those with less support to another. During the Sept. 16-22 negotiating session, members reviewed the first list of 460 products that are broadly supported by the members, as well as the second list of 190-200...

Countries participating in talks to expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) are struggling to finalize a deal in part because China is fighting for long phaseout periods to eliminate tariffs on certain sensitive products covered by the draft agreement, according to World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo. When asked about China's position in those talks, Azevedo told Inside U.S. Trade, "They have been for quite a long time stressing the fact that they as a developing country should have more...

The transparency provisions that World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevedo this week identified as a potential deliverable for the December ministerial have been discussed in the so-called rules negotiations that cover antidumping (AD) and countervailing disciplines as well as fisheries subsidies and regional trade agreements. But a Geneva source said this week that their inclusion in a potential package of concessions to be announced at the ministerial faces an uphill battle. For example, in the rules committee discussions, Brazil...

Advocates for more flexible copyright rules are warning that draft language in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal could tie Congress' hands before it has the chance to consider a proposal on so-called "orphan works" by the U.S. Copyright Office that would limit damages for infringement, although some experts say this is not clear-cut. The TPP language that has raised alarm among these groups would require that parties provide for some type of damages payments to right holders when works are...

Backers of a provision in U.S. law that would increase inspections of catfish farms have grown suspicious that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has been actively blocking its implementation, after USTR officials told congressional staff that the measure could complicate efforts to complete a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal. A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) final rule to implement the provision -- contained in the 2014 farm bill -- has been pending at the Office of Management and Budget...

The South Korean government has created a special inter-ministerial "task force" to evaluate the potential macro and sector-specific effects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on the Korean economy, amid a push by countries participating in the negotiations to finally reach a deal. Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced the formation of the "TPP Comprehensive Effects Analysis Task Force" in an Aug. 5 press release summarizing the contents of a public forum held in Seoul the same day...

Congress is moving toward lifting the 40-year old crude oil export ban in both houses, with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee leading the way with the approval of a bill along a party-line vote of 12 to 10 just before the August recess. The committee approved legislation that would end the crude oil export ban on July 30 as part of the Offshore Production and Energizing National Security (OPENS) Act of 2015. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the chairman...