The document summarizes recent developments in international trade issues. It discusses the passage of trade promotion authority and other trade bills in the US, ongoing negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other agreements, and policy changes regarding relations with countries such as Cuba, Brazil, Ukraine and Iran. Upcoming legislative priorities and negotiation rounds are also outlined.

1. TRADE TALK
29 June – 2 July 2015
TPA, TAA-Trade Preferences Bills Become Law. On Monday afternoon, President Barack Obama
signed into law the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill and the combined Trade Adjustment Assistance
(TAA) and trade preferences measure that reauthorizes the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP),
African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA), and Haiti programs.
Customs Measure Conferencing Update. There is speculation that Malaysia and potentially other Trans-
Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries may not be willing to make concessions in ongoing negotiations until
they are assured that the final deal will be subject to fast-track protection. Given that the House-passed
trade facilitation and enforcement (“customs”) bill contains a human trafficking provision that would modify
the TPA bill and call into question Malaysia’s participation in the TPP, the Senate and House are expected
to quickly convene a conference to finalize and pass the customs bill in both chambers for the President’s
signature into law.
TPP. This week, REUTERS reported on a possible TPP ministerial meeting aimed at finalizing the
agreement during the last week of July, likely in the United States. However, some believe that the goal of
concluding the agreement by the end of this month may be somewhat ambitious.
Ex-Im Bank Update. The U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank’s charter expired on at midnight on Tuesday 30
June, after Congress failed to renew it for the first time in 81 years. Senate Republican critics of the Bank
requested Ex-Im provide a specific timeline on how and when it would pursue “orderly liquidation” to them
by 15 July.
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama participated in a White House outreach call with stakeholders to
reaffirm his commitment to reauthorizing the Bank. The White House also released a fact sheet calling for
Ex-Im’s reauthorization. According to Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), President Obama plans to
meet with her and other Ex-Im supporters on 8 July. One possible legislative vehicle for reauthorizing Ex-
Im is the Highway Trust Fund bill.
House July Agenda. With Congress returning to Washington next week, House Majority Whip Kevin
McCarthy (R-California) circulated a brief Memorandum outlining the July agenda. The Memo did not
provide specifics on timing of consideration of the following bills (Note: Trade-related measures are
highlighted in yellow):

2. • Resume consideration of H.R. 2822, Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act (Calvert)
• Resume consideration of H.R. 5, the Student Success Act (Kline)
• H.R. 2647, the Resilient Federal Forests Act (Westerman)
• H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act (Upton)
• H.R. ____, FY 2016 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (Crenshaw)
• H.R. 2898, Western Water and American Food Security Act (Valadao)
• H.R. 9, the Innovation Act (Goodlatte)
• H.R. 427, the Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny / REINS Act (T. Young)
• Legislation to extend authorities of the Highway Trust Fund
• Legislation related to the Architecture of Abundance energy plan being developed by the Energy &
Commerce Committee
• Conference Report on H.R. 1735, the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act
(Thornberry)
• Conference Report on H.R. 644, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (Reed)
Iran Sanctions Update. As expected, the P5+1 countries agreed to extend their voluntary deadline for
finalizing a comprehensive deal with Iran over its nuclear program by one week to 7 July. At a White House
press briefing, President Obama acknowledged that while hard negotiations remain, it will ultimately be up
to the Iranians to meet the demands of the international community and ensure its nuclear program is
purely peaceful. REUTERS viewed a confidential monthly report from the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) that said Iran's stockpile of uranium gas enriched up to a fissile purity of 5 percent was at
7,537 kg at the end of June, which is just below the roughly 7,650 kg ceiling stipulated in the November
2013 P5+1 interim nuclear deal with Iran.
The Obama Administration is reportedly positioning the IAEA to be tasked with policing Iran’s nuclear sites
and ensuring it does not resume work on a covert weapons program. Some U.S. lawmakers and Mideast
diplomats are questioning whether the IAEA will have the mandate, manpower, and resources necessary to
effectively police Iran, noting that the agency failed to detect covert nuclear programs in Iran, Syria, North
Korea, and Libya in the past.
Russia/Ukraine Sanctions Update. A U.S. congressional delegation headed by Representative Peter
Roskam (R-Illinois) met with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday to discuss the situation in
eastern Ukraine and his government’s economic reforms. The group visited Ukraine and Georgia this week
as part of a bipartisan delegation organized by the House Democracy Partnership, a Congressional
commission focused on supporting legislatures in emerging democracies. Other members of the
Congressional delegation included Representatives Dina Titus (D-Nevada), Lois Capps (D-California),
David Price (D-North Carolina), Tom Rice (R-South Carolina), and Rob Woodall (R-Georgia).
Representative Roskam emphasized that the United States and its allies are now facing the serious
challenge of countering authoritarianism in the world, which he considers a reason why providing support
for Ukraine is a top U.S. foreign policy priority.
Meanwhile, the press reported this week that Dnipro-1, one of Ukraine’s pro-government volunteer
regiments, released drone footage of a Russian military camp just south of the village of Sontsevo in the
Donetsk region. Over the course of two weeks, the camp reportedly grew from a small collection of tents to
a forward operating base (FOB), complete with tanks, communications equipment, and personnel quarters.

3. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona), who travelled to Ukraine in mid-
June, confirmed via Twitter that Dnipro-1 had briefed him on the drone footage and Russian military build-
up in eastern Ukraine.
GSP. The GSP bill was signed by the President as part of the broader trade preferences measure earlier
this week retroactively extends duty reductions for any goods that entered in between 31 July 2013 and the
effective date 29 July 2015. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released an advanced copy of
its Federal Register notice (to be published on 6 July) that will kick off the annual review of products that
should be added or removed to the GSP program. Public comments will be accepted until 31 July and a
public hearing will be held on 11 August.
COOL. We expect the Senate will examine a country-of-origin (COOL) repeal for beef, pork and chicken or
alternative COOL-related measure in July, before Congress recesses for the month of August.
Brazil. On Tuesday, President Obama hosted Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at the White House.
They announced a series of new steps to boost trade and investment that creates jobs for both countries.
Both leaders also spoke in favor of climate change initiatives. The Obama Administration also took the first
step toward reopening the U.S. market to imports of fresh beef from Brazil, publishing a final rule in the
Federal Register on Thursday.
Cuba. On Wednesday, after more than 54 years, President Obama announced that the United States and
Cuba have agreed to formally re-establish diplomatic relations, which will re-open embassies in the
respective countries.
TTIP. The 10th round of TTIP negotiations will take place 13-17 July in Brussels.
TISA. Wikileaks keeps adding to its growing batch of leaked negotiating documents from the Trade in
Services Agreement (TISA) talks, releasing draft annexes on financial services, telecommunications,
electronic commerce, and maritime transport. These annexes reflect the positions of various countries as
of April, except for the e-commerce annex, which is from May. Also released this week is an April version of
the core TISA text as well as draft annexes on domestic regulation, movement of natural persons,
transparency, and government procurement.
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