USTR to combat more non-tariff trade barriers

USTR to combat more non-tariff trade barriers    U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said his office will release this month an extensive report shedding light on sanitary and phytosanitary rules around the world that are being used as unfair technical barriers to protect domestic agriculture interests from imports.
   'As tariff barriers fall, these non-tariff barriers are becoming some of the most difficult challenges our exporters face,' Kirk said last week at the National Press Club in Washington, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.
   The report will help guide the Obama administration's enforcement strategy towards countries that engage in such practices.
   Kirk stressed that using legal remedies to ensure countries abide by trade agreements is a key part of the administration's effort to improve market access for U.S. companies and achieve the President's goal to double exports within five years.
   Another way the administration is trying to guarantee more opportunities for American firms and workers is by pushing the development of a new Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that commits like-minded countries to crack down on intellectual property theft, Kirk said at the NPC and in an address to the American Apparel & Footwear Association's annual conference in Miami. Minimum World Trade Organization standards on counterfeit and pirated goods are not strong enough and often limit the authority of government officials to stop suspicious shipments.

Kirk

   The impact of illegal copycat production is highlighted by a case of a Detroit-area business that had foreign customers take delivery of the first item in an order, reproduce the product's technology for their own purposes and cancel the rest of the order, the nation's lead trade negotiator said.
   'Our past trade agreements have raised the bar on border enforcement of trademarks with selected trading partners. We expect that the ACTA will raise that bar in a similar way with a broader group representing about half of global trade,' he said.
   Kirk said pending free trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea and Panama present significant economic benefits to the United States, but work continues to resolve outstanding issues, such as adherence to stronger standards for labor rights in partner nations, so Congress can ratify them 'at the appropriate time.'
   U.S. officials on Monday began talks in Australia on a new Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement with seven Pacific Rim nations designed to facilitate trade throughout the region. Kirk told the apparel and footwear executives that one of the goals is to enhance transparency of regulatory requirements and make them more coherent so that American firms can more efficiently source and export products. The first round of negotiations will also address ways to maximize export opportunities for small-and-medium-size businesses.
   Collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is also intended to streamline bureaucratic impediments to trade, such as by make customs information and regulations more accessible to other APEC partners, he said. The United States is also working with APEC to address specific barriers to trade and investment in environmental goods and services. ' Eric Kulisch