Office of the United States Trade Representative – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In a notice published on September 18, 2024, the U.S. Trade Representative proposed additional modifications to the actions taken in the Section 301 investigation of China's acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. Specifically, the U.S. Trade Representative proposed increasing Section 301 tariff rates on five subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) covering certain tungsten products, wafers, and polysilicon. In a notice published on September 24, 2024, USTR announced the opening of an electronic portal for interested parties to submit comments on the proposed tariff increases. This notice announces the U.S. Trade Representative's determination to modify the actions being taken in this investigation by increasing tariff rates on the five subheadings.

In accordance with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), USTR is providing 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. The level of a country's trade surplus in these goods relates to the quantity of sugar and syrup goods and sugar-containing products for which the United States grants preferential tariff treatment under the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement (Chile FTA), the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (Morocco FTA), the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR FTA), the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (Peru TPA), the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (Colombia TPA), and the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement (Panama TPA).

Each year, USTR conducts a review to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property (IP) rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on IP protection. Based on this review, the U.S. Trade Representative determines which, if any, of these countries to identify as Priority Foreign Countries. USTR requests written comments that identify acts, policies, or practices that may form the basis of a country's identification as a Priority Foreign Country or placement on the Priority Watch List or Watch List.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) provides for the establishment of a roster of individuals to serve on binational panels convened to review final determinations in antidumping or countervailing duty (AD/CVD) proceedings and amendments to AD/CVD statutes of a USMCA Party. The United States annually renews its selections for the roster. USTR invites applications from eligible individuals wishing to be included on the roster for the period April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026.

Following from the United States' certification of the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the Pelly Amendment, the President is considering various import prohibition options on the basis that PRC nationals are engaging in trade or taking of pangolins that diminishes the effectiveness of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). To inform the President's decision-making, USTR, State, and Interior are seeking public comments concerning whether to impose import prohibitions and what the scope and product coverage of any import prohibitions should be. Neither this notice nor any information that the requesting agencies provide to inform the President's decision constitutes or reflects any final decision.

In a notice published on September 18, 2024, the U.S. Trade Representative announced certain modifications to the actions taken in the Section 301 investigation of China's acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation, including imposing additional Section 301 duties or increasing the rate of existing Section 301 duties, on certain products of China in strategic sectors. Additionally, the U.S. Trade Representative proposed increasing Section 301 tariff rates on five subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) covering certain tungsten products, wafers, and polysilicon. This notice announces that USTR will open an electronic portal on September 23, 2024 for interested parties to submit comments on the proposed tariff increases for the five subheadings.

In connection with the Four-Year Review of actions taken in the section 301 investigation of China's acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation, and in accordance with the specific direction of the President, the U.S. Trade Representative has determined to: modify the actions being taken in the investigation by imposing additional section 301 duties or increasing the rate of existing section 301 duties, on certain products of China in strategic sectors; propose increasing tariff rates for certain tungsten products, wafers, and polysilicon, with a public comment process to be set out via separate notice; provide a list of subheadings eligible for consideration of temporary exclusion under an exclusion process for certain machinery used in domestic manufacturing; and modify the actions to temporarily exclude from section 301 duties certain solar manufacturing equipment.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), through the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), publishes the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE Report) each year. USTR invites comments to assist it and the TPSC in identifying significant foreign barriers to, or distortions of, U.S. exports of goods and services, U.S. foreign direct investment, and U.S. electronic commerce for inclusion in the NTE Report. USTR also will consider responses to this notice as part of the annual review of the operation and effectiveness of all U.S. trade agreements regarding telecommunications products and services that are in force with respect to the United States.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requests comments that identify online and physical markets to be considered for inclusion in the 2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy (Notorious Markets List). The Notorious Markets List identifies examples of online and physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate substantial copyright piracy or trademark counterfeiting. The issue focus for the 2024 Notorious Markets List will examine online pharmacies and counterfeit medicine.

Effective July 1, 2024, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) implemented certain changes to statistical reporting categories in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). As a result of these changes, USTR is making conforming amendments to two extended exclusions associated with the Section 301 investigation of China Acts, Policies and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation.

The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is seeking public comments to assist the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in the preparation of its annual report to Congress on China's compliance with its obligations as a Member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This notice includes the schedule for the submission of comments to the TPSC for the China report and a public hearing.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative is providing notice of allocations of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 (October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025) in-quota quantity of the tariff- rate quotas (TRQs) for imported raw cane sugar, certain sugars, syrups and molasses (also known as refined sugar), specialty sugar, and sugar- containing products.

The United States, Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay have launched the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (Partnership) to deepen economic collaboration and integration in the Western Hemisphere. In November 2023, leaders of these countries issued the East Room Declaration, directing Ministers responsible for trade, foreign affairs and finance each to commence work in their respective areas to fulfill Partnership objectives. USTR is seeking public comments on matters described below, including U.S. interests and priorities, in order to develop trade-related lines of effort in the trade track of the Partnership.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is submitting a request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to reinstate an information collection request (ICR) entitled 301 Exclusion Requests for three years under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its implementing regulations.

In a notice published on September 8, 2022, USTR announced that the July 6, 2018 and August 23, 2018 actions, as modified, in the section 301 investigation of China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation did not terminate on their four-year anniversary dates and would continue. The notice also announced that the U.S. Trade Representative would conduct a review of the actions. In connection with that review, and at the specific direction of the President, the U.S. Trade Representative is proposing modifications to the actions by adding or increasing ad valorem rates of duty, as directed by the President, for certain products of China in strategic sectors. In addition, the U.S. Trade Representative is proposing subheadings eligible for an exclusion process by which interested persons may request that particular machinery used in domestic manufacturing be temporarily excluded from these tariffs. The U.S. Trade Representative also is proposing to modify the actions by granting 19 temporary exclusions for certain solar manufacturing equipment. The products subject to these proposed modifications and the products being proposed for the exclusion process are set out in annexes to this notice. USTR is seeking public comments regarding the proposed modifications and exclusion process.

On March 12, 2024, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) received a petition requesting an investigation of China's acts, policies, and practices targeting the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance. On consideration of the petition and the advice of the Section 301 Committee, the U.S. Trade Representative has initiated an investigation into the issues raised in the petition. The inter-agency Section 301 Committee will hold a public hearing and is seeking public comments in connection with this investigation.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will hold additional public hearings to inform objectives and strategies that advance U.S. supply chain resilience in trade negotiations, enforcement, and other initiatives, and is extending the period for submission of post-hearing comments.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requests comments and will hold a public hearing to inform objectives and strategies that advance U.S. supply chain resilience in trade negotiations, enforcement, and other initiatives.

This notice announces the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) staff members selected to serve on the Senior Executive Service (SES) and Senior Level (SL) Performance Review Board (PRB). This notice supersedes all previous PRB membership notices.

In accordance with the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement entered into by the United States and the Commonwealth of Australia, USTR is providing notice of tariff-rate quota quantity limitations of certain tariff subheadings for calendar year (CY) 2024.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is providing notice of a reallocation of the fiscal year (FY) 2024 in- quota quantity of the World Trade Organization (WTO) tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for imported raw cane sugar.

In accordance with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is providing notice of its determinations 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. The level of a country's trade surplus in these goods relates to the quantity of sugar and syrup goods and sugar-containing products for which the United States grants preferential tariff treatment under the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement (Chile FTA); the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (Morocco FTA); the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR); the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (Peru TPA); the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (Colombia TPA); and the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement (Panama TPA).

Each year, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) conducts a review to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property (IP) rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on IP protection. Based on this review, the U.S. Trade Representative determines which, if any, of these countries to identify as Priority Foreign Countries. USTR requests written comments that identify acts, policies or practices that may form the basis of a country's identification as a Priority Foreign Country or placement on the Priority Watch List or Watch List.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have established a new trade advisory committee known as the Seasonal and Perishable Agricultural Products Advisory Committee (Committee) to provide advice and recommendations to the U.S. Trade Representative and the Secretary of Agriculture in connection with U.S. trade policy that concerns administrative actions and legislation that would promote the competitiveness of Southeastern U.S. producers of seasonal and perishable agricultural products. USTR is accepting applications from qualified individuals interested in serving a four-year term as a Committee member.

The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) sought public comments to assist USTR in the preparation of its annual report to Congress on Russia's implementation of its obligations as a Member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). USTR is cancelling the public hearing that was scheduled to take place on October 12, 2023.