US Trade Agreements Program

314 Pages·2017·3.51 MB·English

United States
International Trade Commission
The Year in Trade 2017
Operation of the Trade Agreements
Program
69th Report
August 2018
Publication Number: 4817
United States International Trade Commission
Commissioners
David S. Johanson, Chairman
Irving A. Williamson
Meredith M. Broadbent
Rhonda K. Schmidtlein
Jason E. Kearns
Catherine DeFilippo
Director, Office of Operations
William Powers
Director, Office of Economics
Address all communications to
Secretary to the Commission
United States International Trade Commission
Washington, DC 20436
The Year in Trade 2017
Operation of the Trade Agreements
Program
69th Report
August 2018
Publication Number: 4817
This report was prepared principally by:
Project Leader
Joanne Guth, Office of Economics

Deputy Project Leader
Tamara Gurevich, Office of Economics

Office of Economics
Justino De La Cruz, Pamela Davis, Stephanie Fortune-Taylor, Alexander Hammer, Lin Jones, Grace
Kenneally, Alissa Tafti, Edward Wilson, and Heather Wickramarachi

Office of General Counsel
William W. Gearhart

Office of Industries
Arthur Chambers, Natalie Hanson, Tamar Khachaturian,
Sarah Oliver, and Laura Rodriguez

Office of Investigations
Brenna Cole, Mary Messer, and Salvatore Mineo

Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements
Donnette Rimmer and Daniel Shepherdson

Office of Unfair Import Investigations
David Lloyd

Office of Analysis and Research Services
Maureen Letostak, David Lundy, and Laura Thayn

Editorial Review
Judy Edelhoff and Peg Hausman

Statistical Review
Russell Duncan

Content Reviewer
Janis Summers

Administrative Support
Nabil Abbyad and Meryem Demirkaya

Help Desk and Customer Service Division (CIO)

Under the direction of
Arona Butcher, Chief
Country and Regional Analysis Division
Office of Economics
Preface
This report is the 69th in a series of annual reports submitted to the U.S. Congress under section 163(c)
of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2213(c)) and its predecessor legislation. Section 163(c) states that
“the International Trade Commission shall submit to the Congress at least once a year, a factual report
on the operation of the trade agreements program.”
This report is one of the principal means by which the U.S. International Trade Commission provides
Congress with factual information on trade policy and its administration for 2017. The trade agreements
program includes “all activities consisting of, or related to, the administration of international
agreements which primarily concern trade and which are concluded pursuant to the authority vested in
the President by the Constitution” and by congressional legislation.
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Table of Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................... 1
Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................ 11
Executive Summary .......................................................................................... 15
Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview of U.S. Trade .......................................... 29
Scope and Approach of the Report .......................................................................................... 29
Organization of the Report ....................................................................................................... 29
Sources ...................................................................................................................................... 30
Overview of the U.S. and Global Economies in 2017 ............................................................... 31
U.S. Economic Trends in 2017 ............................................................................................... 31
Global Economic Trends in 2017 .......................................................................................... 31
Exchange Rate Trends ............................................................................................................... 33
U.S. Trade in Goods in 2017 ...................................................................................................... 34
U.S. Merchandise Trade by Product Category ...................................................................... 36
U.S. Merchandise Trade with Leading Partners.................................................................... 37
U.S. Trade with Free Trade Agreement Partners .................................................................. 40
U.S. Imports under Trade Preference Programs ................................................................... 40
U.S. Trade in Services in 2017 ................................................................................................... 40
U.S. Services Trade by Product Category .............................................................................. 41
U.S. Services Trade with Leading Partners............................................................................ 43
Timeline of Selected Key Trade Activities in 2017 .................................................................... 45
Chapter 2 Administration of U.S. Trade Laws and Regulations .......................... 53
Import Relief Laws .................................................................................................................... 53
Safeguard Actions ................................................................................................................. 53
Laws against Unfair Trade Practices ......................................................................................... 54
Section 301 ............................................................................................................................ 54
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations and Reviews ..................................... 59
Section 337 Investigations .................................................................................................... 64
National Security Investigations ............................................................................................... 66
Trade Adjustment Assistance ................................................................................................... 69
Assistance for Workers ......................................................................................................... 69
Assistance for Firms .............................................................................................................. 72
Tariff Preference Programs ....................................................................................................... 73
Generalized System of Preferences ...................................................................................... 73
African Growth and Opportunity Act .................................................................................... 77
Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act .............................................................................. 81
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Chapter 3 The World Trade Organization .......................................................... 89
WTO .......................................................................................................................................... 89
Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference ................................................................................. 89
General Council ..................................................................................................................... 90
Agreement on Trade Facilitation .......................................................................................... 93
Plurilateral Agreements Already in Force ............................................................................. 94
Selected Plurilateral Agreements under Discussion ............................................................. 96
Dispute Settlement Body .......................................................................................................... 97
New Requests for Consultations ......................................................................................... 100
New Panels Established in 2017 That Involve the United States ....................................... 102
Panel and Appellate Body Reports Issued and/or Adopted during 2017 That Involve
the United States ................................................................................................................ 104
Chapter 4 Selected Regional and Bilateral Trade Activities .............................. 113
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ................................................. 113
Ministerial Council Meeting ................................................................................................ 113
Trade Committee ................................................................................................................ 114
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ........................................................................................ 114
Background ......................................................................................................................... 114
2017 APEC Developments ................................................................................................... 115
Negotiations on a Trade in Services Agreement .................................................................... 117
Trade and Investment Framework Agreements ..................................................................... 118
Developments in TIFA Negotiations during 2017 ............................................................... 120
Developments in Existing TIFAs during 2017 ...................................................................... 121
Chapter 5 U.S. Free Trade Agreements............................................................ 127
U.S. Trade with FTA Partners in 2017 ..................................................................................... 127
U.S. Total Merchandise Trade with FTA Partners ............................................................... 127
U.S. Imports Entered under FTAs ........................................................................................ 130
Developments in FTA Negotiations during 2017 .................................................................... 132
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ........................................................................................... 132
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement .................................. 132
Developments in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ................................ 133
Renegotiation of the NAFTA ............................................................................................... 133
NAFTA’s Commission for Labor Cooperation ..................................................................... 135
NAFTA’s Commission for Environmental Cooperation ....................................................... 136
NAFTA Dispute Settlement ................................................................................................. 137
Developments in Other U.S. FTAs Already in Force during 2017 ........................................... 139
U.S.-Australia FTA ................................................................................................................ 140
U.S.-Bahrain FTA ................................................................................................................. 140
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Table of Contents
CAFTA-DR ............................................................................................................................ 141
U.S.-Chile FTA ...................................................................................................................... 142
U.S.-Colombia TPA .............................................................................................................. 142
U.S.-Israel FTA ..................................................................................................................... 143
U.S.-Jordan FTA ................................................................................................................... 144
U.S.-Korea FTA (KORUS) ...................................................................................................... 144
U.S.-Morocco FTA ............................................................................................................... 145
U.S.-Oman FTA .................................................................................................................... 146
U.S.-Panama TPA ................................................................................................................. 146
U.S.-Peru TPA ...................................................................................................................... 147
U.S.-Singapore FTA .............................................................................................................. 147
Chapter 6 U.S. Trade Relations with Major Trading Partners ........................... 149
European Union ...................................................................................................................... 149
U.S.-EU Trade ...................................................................................................................... 149
Trade Developments ........................................................................................................... 151
China ....................................................................................................................................... 156
U.S.-China Trade.................................................................................................................. 156
Trade Developments ........................................................................................................... 159
Canada .................................................................................................................................... 162
U.S.-Canada Trade ............................................................................................................... 162
Trade Developments ........................................................................................................... 164
Mexico ..................................................................................................................................... 167
U.S.-Mexico Trade ............................................................................................................... 167
Trade Developments ........................................................................................................... 169
Japan ....................................................................................................................................... 171
U.S.-Japan Trade ................................................................................................................. 171
Trade Developments ........................................................................................................... 173
Republic of Korea .................................................................................................................... 175
U.S.-South Korea Trade ....................................................................................................... 175
Trade Developments ........................................................................................................... 178
India ........................................................................................................................................ 179
U.S.-India Trade ................................................................................................................... 179
Trade Developments ........................................................................................................... 182
Taiwan ..................................................................................................................................... 183
U.S.-Taiwan Trade ............................................................................................................... 183
Trade Developments ........................................................................................................... 185
Bibliography ................................................................................................... 189
Appendix A Data Tables .................................................................................. 221
Appendix B Additional Tables Corresponding to Figures in the Report ............ 303
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Boxes
Box 2.1 National security investigations on steel and aluminum, developments
January–March 2018................................................................................................................................... 68

Figures
Figure ES.1 U.S. trade balance in goods and services, 2003–17 ................................................................. 16
Figure ES.2 U.S. goods and services trade with major bilateral trading partners, 2017 ............................ 23
Figure 1.1 U.S. real gross domestic product, percentage change, 2013–17 .............................................. 31
Figure 1.2 Economic growth trends in the world, the United States, and major trading partners,
2015–17 ...................................................................................................................................................... 32
Figure 1.3 Indexes of U.S. dollar exchange rates for selected major foreign currencies, daily,
2017 ............................................................................................................................................................ 34
Figure 1.4 U.S. merchandise trade with the world, 2015–17 ..................................................................... 35
Figure 1.5 Leading U.S. export markets, by share, 2017 ............................................................................ 39
Figure 1.6 Leading U.S. import sources, by share, 2017 ............................................................................. 39
Figure 1.7 U.S. cross-border trade in private services with the world, 2015–17 ....................................... 41
Figure 1.8 Leading U.S. export markets for private services, by share, 2017 ............................................ 44
Figure 1.9 Leading U.S. import sources for private services, by share, 2017 ............................................. 44
Figure 2.1 Share of TAA petitions certified by industry sector in FY 2017 ................................................. 72
Figure 3.1 Timeline for the WTO Dispute Settlement Process ................................................................... 98
Figure 6.1 U.S. merchandise trade with the EU, 2013–17 ........................................................................ 150
Figure 6.2 U.S. cross-border trade in private services with the EU, 2013–17 .......................................... 150
Figure 6.3 U.S. merchandise trade with China, 2013–17 ......................................................................... 158
Figure 6.4 U.S. cross-border trade in private services with China, 2013–17 ............................................ 158
Figure 6.5 U.S. merchandise trade with Canada, 2013–17 ...................................................................... 163
Figure 6.6 U.S. cross-border trade in private services with Canada, 2013–17 ......................................... 163
Figure 6.7 U.S. merchandise trade with Mexico, 2013–17 ....................................................................... 168
Figure 6.8 U.S. cross-border trade in private services with Mexico, 2013–17 ......................................... 168
Figure 6.9 U.S. merchandise trade with Japan, 2013–17 ......................................................................... 172
Figure 6.10 U.S. cross-border trade in private services with Japan, 2013–17 ......................................... 172
Figure 6.11 U.S. merchandise trade with South Korea, 2013–17 ............................................................. 177
Figure 6.12 U.S. cross-border trade in private services with South Korea, 2013–17 ............................... 177
Figure 6.13 U.S. merchandise trade with India, 2013–17 ........................................................................ 181
Figure 6.14 U.S. cross-border trade in private services with India, 2013–17 ........................................... 181
Figure 6.15 U.S. merchandise trade with Taiwan, 2013–17 ..................................................................... 184
Figure 6.16 U.S. cross-border trade in private services with Taiwan, 2013–17 ....................................... 184

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