US Trade Rep Seeks Comments on Trade Agreements
Last year, Wisconsin companies exported more than $21 billion worth of products to 150 different countries. Of that total, $3.4 billion were agricultural products. On average, Wisconsin’s food and agribusinesses export $70 million worth of products per week.
Now is your chance to provide comments to the US Trade Representative about current trade agreements in force.
USTR Seeks Comments On Performance Of Trade Agreements To Which US Is A Party
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) and the US Department of Commerce (DoC) are seeking comments that they will consider as part of their performance reviews of all bilateral, plurilateral, and multilateral trade agreements to which the US is a party and all trade relations with countries governed by the rules of the WTO.
Comments are due by July 31, 2017. USTR and DoC said they strongly prefer electronic submissions made through the federal e-rulemaking portal, www.regulations.gov. The docket number is USTR-2017-0010. Commenters should submit information related to one or more of the following assessments:
- The performance of individual free trade agreements (FTAs) and bilateral investment treaties to which the US is a party. There currently are 14 FTAs in force.
- The performance of the WTO agreements with regard to US trade relations with those trading partners with which the US does not have an FTA, but with which the US runs significant trade deficits in goods. The trading partners subject to these performance reviews include the European Union, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
- The performance of US trade preference programs. In commenting on these assessments, commenters may want to address any specific harm or benefit resulting from any agreement or treaty, including:
- Whether there have been violations or abuses of the agreement, treaty, or program that have harmed US workers or domestic manufacturers, farmers, or ranchers; harmed intellectual property rights held by US companies and US persons; reduced the rate of innovation in the US; or impaired research and development from occurring in the US.
- Whether any unfair treatment by trade and investment partners has harmed US workers, manufacturers or others.
- Whether an agreement, treaty or preference program has not met predictions with regard to new jobs created, favorable effects on the trade balance, expanded market access, lowered trade barriers, or increased US export.
Is your company exporting and looking for advice on international insurance coverages? Contact your M3 Account Executive.
