On 15 November 2016, the New Zealand parliament passed by a 61-57 vote, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Amendment Bill, which is an omnibus bill that would amend 11 different NZ laws to meet obligations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and enable New Zealand to ratify the agreement.
On September 12, 2016, Global Affairs Canada posted a report by the Office of the Chief Economist, entitled Economic Impact of Canada’s Potential Participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The study assesses the potential economic impact of the TPP Agreement on Canada and other members in terms of income gains and new trade and investment opportunities based on the final negotiated outcomes of the TPP Agreement, which was concluded in Atlanta, GA in October 2015. It highlights the projected economic impact that Canada faces if it chooses to be a party to the Agreement, as well as the potential economic impact if Canada opts out of the Agreement, and the 11 other TPP countries are part of the Agreement.
On August 10, 2016, the Department of State published in the Federal Register a notice [Public Notice: 9667] of Proposal to Extend the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Peru Concerning the Imposition of Import Restrictions on Archaeological Material from the Prehispanic Cultures and Certain Ethnological Material from the Colonial Period of Peru (US – Peru MOU), as the Government of Peru has…
On May 26, 2016, the Department of State published in the Federal Register a document [Public Notice: 9584] announcing that on May 3, 2016, it certified that 14 shrimp-harvesting nations (Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gabon, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, and Suriname) have a regulatory program comparable to that of the United States governing the incidental taking of the relevant species of sea turtles in the course of commercial shrimp…
On May 18, 2016, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) released its report assessing the likely impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement that the President has entered into with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The USITC’s report, Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Likely Impact on the U.S. Economy and on Specific Industry Sectors (Inv. No. TA-105-001, USITC Pub. 4607), provides an assessment of the likely impact…
On April 29, 2016, the Diario Oficial de la Federacion (the Official Gazette) published the Presidential Decree promulgating the Additional Protocol to the Framework Agreement of the Pacific Alliance, signed in Cartagena de Indias, DT and C., Republic of Colombia, on 10 February 2014 and the Ministry of Economy Acuerdo announcing the applicable rate of the general import tax for goods originating in the countries that form the region of the Pacific Alliance. The Additional…
On 21 January 2016, the New Zealand Trade Minister, Todd McClay, confirmed that his Government is planning to host the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in New Zealand on Thursday 4 February. New Zealand has issued invitations to TPP Ministers to sign the Agreement in Auckland. Mc Clay indicated that the signing will mark the end of the TPP negotiating process and will permit all 12 countries (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia,…
On December 30, 2015, the Defense Acquisition Regulations System, Department of Defense (DoD) published in the Federal Register a final rule [Docket DARS–2015–0066] amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to incorporate increased thresholds for application of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement and the Free Trade Agreements, as determined by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Every two years, the trade agreements thresholds are escalated according to a predetermined formula set forth in the…
On December 15, 2015, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice of determination of procurement thresholds for calendar years 2016 and 2017. Executive Order 12260 requires the USTR to set the U.S. dollar thresholds for application of Title III of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2511 et seq.), which implements U.S. trade agreement obligations, including those under the WTO Agreement on Government…
On December 11, 2015, the Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice of its determination of the trade surplus in certain sugar and syrup goods and sugar containing products of Chile, Morocco, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Colombia, and Panama. As described in the notice, the level of a country’s trade surplus in these goods relates to the quantity of sugar and syrup goods…