Wednesday

An effort by House Republicans to craft a new process for developing tariff suspension bills that will not run afoul of the party's earmark ban has essentially stalled, making it increasingly unlikely that this issue will be part of the pending customs bill when it emerges from a conference, according to congressional and business sources. The House push for a compromise on the so-called Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) reform language in the Senate version of the customs bill was announced...

The Treasury Department, alongside the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, is poised to begin negotiations with the European Commission for an agreement that would ensure that U.S. insurance regulations are deemed to meet the requirements of a directive that sets new rules on capital solvency and reinsurance collateral. The so-called Solvency II directive is scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2016. In the United States, insurance providers are regulated by individual states represented by the National Association...

In tandem with the announcement of the conclusion of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks at the beginning of this week, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative rolled out an online multimedia campaign using an unusual subject as the centerpiece to tout the benefits of the "21st century" trade agreement: a cherry. In a video that headlines its new website on the trade deal, USTR explains the "journey" of a U.S.-grown cherry exported to Vietnam to illustrate the gains it says...

The Peruvian government is fighting back against claims that it has not fully complied with the environmental provisions of the U.S.-Peru free trade agreement, but an English-language document it released this month as part of this campaign in fact shows that Lima as of mid-2014 had still not fully implemented 10 of its 29 obligations under the deal's forestry annex. The document, a detailed compliance matrix dated June 2014 but circulated to reporters on Sept. 1, listed the implementation status...

China has said it will not submit a sixth revised offer to join the World Trade Organization's Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), saying it would not be ready to do so until it completes ongoing "reforms" to its state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and military procurement practices, leaving the sluggish eight-year-old accession talks at a standstill, according to Geneva sources. Chinese officials conveyed that message at an informal meeting of the GPA Committee on Sept. 16. In addition to the ongoing reforms, Beijing...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and European anti-corporate groups had a rare moment of agreement this week when they both rejected the European Commission's proposed investment text for the U.S.-EU trade talks, albeit for different reasons. In general, business groups feel the commission's new approach will shift the dispute process to favor governments more than is the case under the current model of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), while non-governmental organizations blasted the commission's proposal as not going far enough to...

Shipments of fish to the United States by China and other major Asian exporters could be ensnared by a proposed administration rule that would block imports from foreign fisheries that cannot demonstrate similarly effective standards in preventing the serious injury and death of marine mammals, according to marine life experts. The proposed rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would require a ban on all fish and fish products from countries that do not have comparably effective regulations...

Chile's top trade official this week told a regular gathering of civil society representatives that 27 out of the 30 chapters that will compose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement have been closed and further confirmed the major outstanding issues relate to intellectual property (IP), market access, and rules of origin. Andres Rebolledo, head of the Chilean foreign ministry's trade office DIRECON, also told the civil society representatives that officials had made progress on about 90 percent of the agreement during...

The House Republican leadership has said that a bill to lift the 40-year-old crude oil export ban will be voted on in September or October as part of a larger energy legislation package, according to a spokesman for Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), who introduced the bill in February. The legislation -- H.R. 702 -- is sponsored by 100 Republicans and 13 Democrats and is expected to move in parallel with the so-called "Architecture of Abundance" energy bill. That bill has...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) late last week joined other law makers urging the Obama administration to refrain from pushing a tobacco-specific "carveout" from investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as anti-tobacco advocates similarly ratcheted up their lobbying in favor of such a measure including Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL). McConnell's July 30 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman opposing the carveout was sent alongside a similar letter from U.S. business and agricultural groups,...