The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced March 28 the release of its 2008 National Trade Estimate report. This report details significant barriers to U.S. trade and investment in 62 major overseas markets, the unfair trade practices faced by U.S. workers who produce and export industrial goods, agricultural products and services, and the actions being taken to reduce and eliminate these barriers and practices.
The information in the NTE report will be used in the Special 301 report the USTR will issue by late April, which will catalogue the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights protections in dozens of countries. NTE information is also used in the USTR’s 1377 review, which focuses on the barriers facing U.S. telecommunications services and equipment providers and lays out the specific telecom-related issues on which the USTR will focus its efforts in the coming year.
Progress in 2007. According to the report, successes in addressing foreign trade barriers in 2007 include the following.
• signing free trade agreements with Panama and South Korea, amending FTAs with Peru and Colombia and working with Congress on a bipartisan basis to approve legislation implementing the U.S.-Peru FTA
• launching WTO disputes against China regarding prohibited export and import substitution subsidies, IPR enforcement and market access barriers to U.S. industries exporting and distributing publications, home entertainment videos, music and movies
• submitting, in conjunction with the European Union, a Doha Round proposal to reduce international barriers to trade in environmental goods and services, including in climate-friendly technologies such as clean coal, wind energy and solar cells
• strengthening IPR laws and enforcement around the globe (e.g., raids of unlicensed optical disk plants in Russia, implementation of measures to reduce end-user software piracy and an agreement to strengthen enforcement against company name misuse in China, prosecutions for business software piracy in Taiwan and seizures of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in Indonesia and Nigeria)
• launching the multinational Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, under which the U.S. will work with key trading partners to set a higher international standard for combating counterfeiting and piracy
• further reducing telecom trade barriers (e.g., reducing the high licensing fee for international long distance service in Colombia, concluding a mutual recognition agreement with Japan that will speed certification of U.S. telecom equipment exports, and reforming licensing conditions in India’s newly liberalized telecom market)
• securing a commitment from Korea to adopt an internationally recognized procedure for energy efficiency testing, which will eliminate a standards barrier that had disadvantaged U.S. manufacturers and exporters of home appliances
Priorities for 2008. The NTE report also details areas where the Bush administration will continue in 2008 its efforts to reduce trade barriers and ensure the fair application of global trading rules. According to the USTR, priority areas include the following.
• working with Congress to approve pending FTAs with Colombia, Panama and South Korea
• pursuing a successful Doha Round agreement
• enforcing U.S. rights (e.g., WTO challenges against the EU on aircraft subsidies, agricultural biotech products and beef, pressing in the Transatlantic Economic Council for resumption of U.S. poultry exports, and arbitration against Canada under the Softwood Lumber Agreement)
• working with all trading partners, particularly former top markets in Asia such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China, to fully reopen their markets to U.S. beef
• building the U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area by encouraging countries in the region to liberalize their economies
• continuing negotiations with various sub-Saharan African nations to address issues that continue to hamper U.S. exporters, including import bans on certain products, onerous customs procedures, corruption and ineffective IPR enforcement
Financial Times
