President's Trade Agenda Lists 2011 Goals as NEI, FTAs, GSP, Etc.

Administration’s 2011 Trade Policy Priorities

The Administration’s 2011 trade policy priorities include the following:

National Export Initiative. The Administration launched the National Export Initiative (NEI) in 2010 with a goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015, and by the end of 2010, U.S. exports were up nearly 17% over the previous year. In 2011, the Administration will build on this success, continuing to implement the trade promotion and trade policy recommendations of the President's Export Promotion Cabinet. The cabinet also will deliver to Congress the first comprehensive interagency report on progress in implementing the NEI across trade promotion, export financing, and trade policy. It will show that this effort is growing at a pace that will meet the President’s goals.

KORUS. In 2011, the Administration will continue its close cooperation with Congress to secure approval of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) as soon as possible. The Administration believes that in working to address concerns with the KORUS agreement, it obtained an unprecedented level of input from stakeholders, including industry and labor, as well as from Congress, and was able to successfully negotiate a better deal for the U.S. automotive sector in December 2010.

Colombia and Panama FTAs. The Administration is applying these same principles of engagement to the pending FTAs with Colombia and Panama. According to the Administration, Panama has already made significant progress in reforming its labor regime to achieve consistency with the pending trade agreement and has taken significant steps to achieve greater tax transparency. In Colombia, the new Santos Administration has launched several major initiatives addressing the concerns of labor and human rights groups. The Administration is continuing to work to resolve outstanding issues related to these agreements as quickly as possible this year so that it can move them forward for Congressional consideration immediately thereafter.

GSP, APTDEA, Haiti, Pakistan. The Administration will work with Congress in 2011 to secure long-term reauthorization of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA)/Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) program. It will also continue to help Haiti to take maximum advantage of opportunities in the U.S. market through efforts like the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE II) Act, as amended and extended by the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Act of 2010. In 2011, the Administration will also help Pakistan recover from last year’s devastating floods by seeking to build economic prosperity through trade.

Enforcement. When cooperative approaches to resolving trade disputes do not prove successful, the Administration will continue in 2011 to pursue U.S. rights through World Trade Organization (WTO) and other trade agreement dispute settlement procedures. It will also continue pragmatic, cross-cutting enforcement initiatives under other trade agreements such as the 2006 U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA), the Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), etc.

Trans-Pacific Partnership. In 2011, the Administration intends to make significant progress toward the swift conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). There are five TPP negotiating rounds planned for 2011. The Administration continues to believe that the TPP is the most promising vehicle for achieving economic integration across the Asia-Pacific region and advancing U.S. economic interests with the fastest-growing economies in the world.

U.S. leadership in APEC. Also key to the U.S.’ robust engagement in the Asia-Pacific is its role as 2011 chair and host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the premier economic organization in the region. In 2011, as the U.S. hosts APEC for the first time since 1993, it will seek practical and ambitious results on the important issues confronting U.S. exporters to the region. To that end, the U.S. will prioritize initiatives that can help to build a seamless regional economy, including those related to economic integration and trade expansion, enhanced green growth, and greater regulatory cooperation and convergence.

Intellectual property rights. In 2011, the Administration looks forward to the entry into force of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and utilizing other IP rights enforcement tools to protect and open markets for U.S. innovators and entrepreneurs, especially small businesses. It will continue to pay special attention to IP rights in trade negotiations and enforcement efforts.

WTO Doha Round. In 2011, the Administration will intensify efforts to engage key emerging economy partners to raise the level of ambition for a “final package” in WTO Doha negotiations. In addition to progress on agriculture trade and rules, the talks must take a meaningful approach to sectoral liberalization in non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and make progress on meaningful new market access for services trade. The Administration adds that for these talks to remain relevant, they must address the world as it is (not as it was when the Round began in 2001), and that countries such as China need to demonstrate improved offers.

WTO membership and PNTR for Russia. According to the Administration, the coming year should be significant with respect to Russia’s efforts to join the WTO, and the U.S. will continue to exert leadership in this effort. Recognizing continued progress in these negotiations, the Administration will also seek to work with Congress this year to enact legislation terminating the application of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to Russia and extending permanent normal trade relations status to Russian goods.

WTO membership for Yemen, Kazakhstan, etc. Likewise, the Administration expects to exert leadership in the WTO accession efforts of other prospective members in 2011, including Yemen, Kazakhstan, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Afghanistan.

(See report for details of the Administration’s trade policy plans by region, an annex listing trade agreements entered into by the U.S. since 1984, etc.)

(See ITT’s Online Archives or 02/10/11 news, 11021031, for BP summary of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Feb 9 hearing on the President’s trade agenda, which stated that inaction on the pending FTAs was blocking other trade measures.)

USTR press release, dated 03/01/11, available here.