GHY Tradelines

(Dallas Morning News)

If President Barack Obama were graded on trade policy, he’d probably get a gentleman’s C, and only that high because he had former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk as his tutor.

Kirk, who was part of Obama’s White House team from Day One, will leave his post as U.S. trade representative next month, the latest in a growing list of officials who have opted not to stay on for the president’s second term.

Both as a candidate and as president, Obama has displayed an uneasy relationship with business, free trade and globalism. Not so for Kirk, who as Dallas mayor promoted both international trade — as part of the city’s economic agenda — and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

At the top of Kirk’s accomplishments in Washington are prominent pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Negotiations began during George W. Bush’s administration, but it was Kirk who jump-started and completed the deals after winning additional political and economic promises. More recently, he has been a central player in U.S.-Asian trade talks. Read more here.
 

(Reuters)

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Tuesday he was stepping down as the nation’s top trade official in late February, opening up a plum economic post as President Barack Obama searches for more women and minorities for his Cabinet.

White House international economic affairs adviser Mike Froman had been considered the front-runner to succeed Kirk, but sources familiar with his thinking said he was likely to stay in his current job, which allows him to weigh in on issues ranging from energy and climate change to trade and international finance. One source familiar with the situation identified Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard, Commerce Under Secretary for International Affairs Francisco Sanchez and U.S. Export-Import Bank President Fred Hochberg as candidates for the USTR job.

Kirk, a former mayor of Dallas, Texas and early Obama supporter, oversaw congressional approval of free-trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. He also completed negotiations on Russia’s entry to the World Trade Organization. Read more here.
 

(Reuters)

Europe and the United States are set to launch trade talks early next year to deepen the world’s largest trading relationship, EU and U.S. officials say, potentially unleashing billions of euros of new transatlantic business.

Together, the bloc and the United States account for about half the world’s economic output and nearly a third of world trade. But a debt crisis in Europe and elusive American growth are pushing both sides to consider knocking down the final barriers to trade.

A deal could increase economic output by 122 billion euros ($158 billion) a year for Europe alone and add 0.52 percent to the EU’s gross domestic product in the long term, according to European Commission estimates, benefiting industries ranging from chemicals to automakers. Read more here.
 

(The Toronto Star)

The U.S. trade representative has started an inquiry under the North American Free Trade Agreement to determine if the Nova Scotia government has offered improper subsidies to a Cape Breton paper mill.

Ron Kirk, in a letter released Thursday by a Maine congressman, said reports about the province’s $124-million financial aid package for the Port Hawkesbury Paper mill have raised “troubling questions” about potential injury to American businesses. Kirk also said he will be seeking information from the Canadian government, saying the United States plans to raise the matter at meetings this month at the World Trade Organization. Read more here.
 

(MercoPress)

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk urged the Brazilian government in a letter sent on Wednesday to reconsider plans for “protectionist” tariff increases expected to hurt U.S. exports.

“I am writing to state in strong and clear terms the United States’ concern about scheduled and proposed tariff increases in Brazil and Mercosur,” Kirk said in the letter to Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota.

Brazil triggered international concerns over growing protectionism when it announced plans to raise import tariffs on 100 foreign products. This is the latest step by President Dilma Rousseff to fend off competition from foreign producers, which has hit local industries and Brazil’s economy.

The temporary increase in levies, initially for a year, would apply to products ranging from glass to iron pipes and bus tires. The rate will reach 25% for most of those products, an increase from the low teens. Read more here.
 

(The Wall Street Journal)

The top U.S. trade negotiator said he doesn’t see plans for an Asia-only trade pact that would bind China and Japan to other economies throughout the region as a threat to U.S. economic interests.

Instead, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said he wants to accelerate efforts to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, which includes a handful of Southeast Asian countries but excludes China and Japan, at least for now.

“I am reasonably confident we’ll get the TPP finished before the [Asia-wide free trade zone] comes into being” Mr. Kirk said in a telephone interview Sunday, even though discussions about a free trade area across Asia have gathered momentum recently.

Mr. Kirk spoke from Hanoi, where he met with Vietnamese officials after taking part in a meeting of economic chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia. Read more here.
 

(Agence France-Presse)

13th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations made advances on 20 areas under negotiation, the Office of U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said.

The United States said trade negotiations with eight Pacific partners made “important progress” in the latest round of talks that wrapped up in California on Tuesday.

The 13th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, aimed at creating a vast trade pact across the dynamic region, made advances on 20 areas under negotiation, the office of U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said.

The USTR noted “particularly significant” progress on a number of issues, such as customs, cross-border services, telecommunications and government procurement, in the July 2-10 talks in San Diego. Read more here.
 

(Reuters – Alex Threlfall)

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Wednesday that he expects to leave office at the end of President Barack Obama’s first term, and also expressed enthusiasm about the potential for a trade agreement between the United States and the EU to boost jobs and growth on both sides of the Atlantic.

“I’ve been privileged to serve, but it would be my intention to take advantage of the opportunity to go back and serve my family now,” Kirk told Reuters Insider during a break in the spring meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a developed country group.

Kirk, who has not previously publicly said he plans to leave if Obama is re-elected, noted there was a tradition of U.S. cabinet officials submitting their resignation at the end of a president’s first term. “Like most members of the cabinet I do not anticipate that I would be around,” Kirk said, but added it is ultimately “the president’s call” whether to accept his resignation or not. Read more here.
 

(STR Trade Report)

The 12th round of negotiations toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement concluded May 18 in Dallas, Texas, with what the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative called “better-than-expected progress.” However, the round was marked by protests about the degree of transparency into the talks and continued uncertainty as to when a decision may be made on including additional participants. […]

The TPP is currently being negotiated by Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. Canada, Mexico and Japan expressed an interest in joining in November 2011 and since then have been conducting bilateral talks with existing participants. Those discussions have centered on whether Ottawa, Mexico City and Tokyo are willing to put their various sensitive issues on the TPP negotiating table.

U.S. officials have suggested recently that no other countries will be added to the TPP until after a final agreement is reached. USTR Ron Kirk said that “if the nine of us don’t produce an agreement … within the near term, it doesn’t matter” if other interested parties are ready to join or not. Weisel added that a decision on whether to admit new participants will not be made until all the ongoing bilateral discussions are completed. The matter is likely to come up at a meeting of APEC trade ministers in Russia in June but no decision is expected at that time. Read more here.
 

(The Economic Times)

The Obama administration wants China to open its market further and is working to stop the application of a United States law on Russia in a bid to help American businesses compete there, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Thursday.

He added that President Barack Obama’s administration is seeking to terminate application of the Jackson-Vanik amendment with respect to Russia so that American businesses “can compete on a level playing field in Russia os other members of the World Trade Organization.” The Jackson-Vanik amendment regulates trade between the U.S. and “non-market” economies that restrict emigration and other human rights.

In a speech to business executives in Singapore, Kirk said “We firmly believe that China can contribute even more to global prosperity, if it opens its markets with the same dedication that has characterized its pursuit of entry into other countries’ markets over the past 10 years.” Read more here.
 

(STR Trade Report)

The Obama administration delivered to Congress March 1 its 2012 Trade Policy Agenda and 2011 Annual Report, which “offers a survey of how the [Obama] administration will continue to support American jobs through exports and two-way trade, through enforcement of U.S. rights in a strong, rules-based trading system, and through bolstered international trade relationships.”

A press release from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative states that key goals for 2012 include entry into force and implementation of free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama; concluding negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement; enhanced trade enforcement efforts to investigate unfair trading practices and hold trading partners accountable for their commitments to comply with World Trade Organization obligations; extending permanent normal trade relations to Russia; and continued U.S. leadership at the WTO and other forums toward greater international trade liberalization. Read more here.

Related: House Ways and Means Committee Holds Hearing on President Obama’s Trade Policy
 

(The Hill – Vicki Needham)

U.S. trade officials are expecting to cut a wide swath through a broad trade agenda this year, all probably before Congress leaves town in August.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has three major issues on his agenda — implementing the three free-trade agreements passed last fall, opening up the Russian market to U.S. goods and services and wrapping up negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Russia’s ascension to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is topping the agenda for the Obama administration and business groups.  “It’s our top trade legislative priority for the year,” Chris Wenk, senior director for International Policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told The Hill on Friday.  The Coalition for U.S.-Russia Trade — a group of businesses pushing for the changes needed to move forward — is “starting an aggressive ramp up reaching out to the Hill,” he said. Read more here.
 

(MB.com)

Building Block to TPP Membership

The Philippines and United States signed a customs administration and trade facilitation agreement, a building block towards Philippines participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.

The agreement was signed by United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Gregory Domingo on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Honolulu, Hawaii.

A statement released by the USTR said the agreement includes specific commitments on trade facilitation, including on simplified customs procedures and transparency of customs administration, which will promote increased bilateral trade, benefitting both countries.

The Philippines is already an important US trading partner, with two-way goods and services trade last year of $20 billion. Read more here.
 

(CBC News – Laura Payton)

Trade Minister Ed Fast must meet with his U.S. counterpart to head off talk of a new tariff for goods shipped through Canada and into America, the head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said Monday.

Fast says the attempt by the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission to add a tariff to cargo shipped into Canadian ports and across the U.S. border is in its infancy. He says it’s too soon to say what could come of it.

But Perrin Beatty, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, says the government should intervene very forcefully to make it clear that the move would run contrary to U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s attempts to ease trade.

Fast should meet with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Beatty says, and Canadian embassy staff in Washington should be meeting with American authorities.

“I think we need to make it clear that Canada will not willingly accept an attack upon Canadian ports and railroads,” Beatty said.  “I think we should be trying to head off improper action on the part of the Americans in the first place. If we’re forced to pursue this under international trade law, we’ll have to do that, but our goal should be to prevent something from happening, which is damaging to the trade relationship between Canada and the U.S. and which is also damaging to consumers in both countries.” Read more here.
 

(World Trade Interactive)

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced Sept. 20 that the U.S. has filed a World Trade Organization complaint against China’s imposition of additional import duties on U.S. chicken products. The new enforcement action comes as momentum continues to build for Senate approval of legislation addressing irritants in the U.S.-China trade relationship, which the White House does not necessarily want to see happen.

A USTR press release states that the WTO case challenges China’s antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of U.S. chicken broiler products, which include chicken products that are not cut into pieces as well as various cuts and pieces. The AD duties range from 50.3% to 105.4% and the CV duties range from 4.0% to 30.3%. The U.S. alleges that in imposing these duties China appears to have violated its WTO obligations by not observing numerous transparency and due process requirements, failing to properly explain the basis for its findings and conclusions, incorrectly calculating dumping margins and subsidy rates, and making unsupported findings of injury to China’s domestic industry. The U.S. was China’s largest chicken broiler product supplier before these duties were imposed, USTR notes, but since then exports have fallen 90%. Read more here.
 

(The China Post)

The fate of long-running world trade talks depends on whether China, India and Brazil are willing to make a deal that will open their markets to additional foreign goods and services, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Wednesday.

“If I can just be blunt, the question is whether they are willing to walk in the room, close the door and hammer out a deal,” Kirk said in a speech at a trade symposium hosted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The remark came a day after European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht warned that the nearly 10-year-old Doha round of trade talks was at a difficult stage and there was “no reason to be optimistic” about the chances of success. Read more here.

(World Trade Interactive)

A group of 28 House members recently wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk urging him to take action at the World Trade Organization against China’s restraints on exports of rare earth oxides and minerals. The letter follows the issuance of a preliminary WTO report “concluding that China does not have a legal right to impose export restrictions on various raw materials.”

The letter pointed out that rare earths are “the key to technological innovation and the growth of green energy jobs” and “are also critical to U.S. national security.” China controls the vast majority of the world supply of these minerals but “has been reducing its export quotas every year since 2006 and has announced a further 11% reduction for 2011.” According to the letter, press reports indicate that Beijing is using these export restrictions “to force high-tech companies to relocate to China” as well as for political and economic leverage against competing nations. As a result, the House members concluded, “it is in our best interest to vigorously pursue our options before the World Trade Organization related to Chinese rare earth trade policy.”

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk comments on the state of the trade deficit in 2011. “If you look back historically, our trade deficit sort of widens the better our economy is doing,” says Kirk.

(AFP)

Washington accused Canada on Tuesday of breaking a five-year-old agreement on lumber exports to the United States, and demanded arbitration.

Ottawa rejected the charge as “unfounded.”

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Canada has sold softwood timber from public lands to Canadian lumber exporters for prices below those agreed in a 2006 pact. The Canadian province of British Columbia is said to have sold exporters timber felled from public lands for a low price of 25 cents per cubic meter.

“Canada is in breach of its commitments,” said Kirk. “When we believe our trading partners are not living up to their obligations, we will not hesitate to enforce our rights under our trade agreements.” Washington said talks to resolve the matter without arbitration had failed. Read more here.

(The Trucker)

A program to allow Mexican trucks to operate in the U.S. could be “up and running” in four to six months, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Monday, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

Speaking at the meeting of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Free Trade Commission here, Kirk said the U.S. “would like to sit down and begin” negotiations with Mexico in the next week. But the discussions are only part of a series of ifs and buts, the Journal reported, including whether the Department of Transportation thinks an agreement to allow cross-border trucking can be reached and if the U.S. Congress passes enabling legislation.

Then, Kirk said, a new program could be “up and running as quickly as within the next four to six months.” Read more here.