[CTC] USTR sets hearing date for input on NAFTA negotiating objectives

[Arthur Stamoulis]

INSIDE US TRADE
 
USTR sets hearing date for input on NAFTA negotiating objectives

May 22, 2017 
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will hold a hearing on the administration's NAFTA renegotiation plans on June 27, following a public comment period that will end on June 12, the agency announced.

In a Federal Register notice <https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2017-10603.pdf> slated to be published on Tuesday, USTR said it is “seeking public comments on matters relevant to the modernization of NAFTA in order to inform development of U.S. negotiating positions.”

Public comments are due by June 12; the hearing, on June 27, could last into a second day, the notice states. It will be held at the International Trade Commission hearing room in Washington, DC.

USTR's Trade Policy Staff Committee identifies several areas for specific comments, including rules of origin, digital trade issues and labor.

The full list:

(a) General and product-specific negotiating objectives for Canada and Mexico in the context of a NAFTA modernization.

(b) Economic costs and benefits to U.S. producers and consumers of removal of any remaining tariffs and removal or reduction of non-tariff barriers on articles traded with Canada and Mexico.

(c) Treatment of specific goods (described by HTSUS numbers), including comments on—

(1) Product-specific import or export interests or barriers,

(2) Experience with particular measures that should be addressed in negotiations, and

(3) Addressing any remaining tariffs on articles traded with Canada, including ways to address export priorities and import sensitivities related to Canada and Mexico in the context of the NAFTA.

(d) Customs and trade facilitation issues that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(e) Appropriate modifications to rules of origin or origin procedures for NAFTA qualifying goods.

(f) Any unwarranted sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade imposed by Canada and Mexico that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(g) Relevant barriers to trade in services between the United States and Canada and Mexico that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(h) Relevant digital trade issues that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(I) Relevant trade-related intellectual property rights issues that should be addressed in the negotiations.(j) Relevant investment issues that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(k) Relevant competition-related matters that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(l) Relevant government procurement issues that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(m) Relevant environmental issues that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(n) Relevant labor issues that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(o) Issues of particular relevance to small and medium-sized businesses that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(p) Relevant trade remedy issues that should be addressed in the negotiations.

(q) Relevant state-owned enterprise issues that should be addressed in the negotiations


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