Blog - September 2009

Every week, the USTR website explores a new trade topic, with background information and current trade data. This week Ambassador Kirk will be speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) Sixth Annual Summit. This week's trade topic focuses on Intellectual Property Rights and anti-counterfeiting.

Innovation and creativity are pillars of global economic development. Key to any nation's economic success is the ability to trade intellectual property - including the goods and services that flow from new ideas - in a rules-based system around the world.  Stretching back to the days of Benjamin Franklin, America has a proud history as the world leader in innovation.   Today Intellectual property intensive industries employ more than 18 million Americans and account for more than half of American exports.

An important part of the mission of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is to ensure that U.S. creators and innovators benefit from adequate and effective protection and enforcement of their intellectual property rights (IPR) in markets around the world.  By creating and ensuring an international standard on Intellectual Property Rights Laws, the aim of is to create a freer, fairer international market for global trade. A market with adequate laws and effective enforcement opens up opportunities for Americans to sell the products of their innovation and creativity abroad, creating new opportunities for employment.  Additionally, innovation brings about technological advances that benefit the quality of life of everyone.

IPR infringement causes significant financial losses for right holders and legitimate businesses around the world, harming both U.S. and foreign innovators and creators.  In its most pernicious forms, it can also endanger the public.  Counterfeiting of some products, such as car parts and medicines, poses a real risk to health and safety.  Trade in counterfeit and pirated products often fuels organized criminal networks and hinder sustainable economic development in many countries.

USTR works to ensure, through trade policy leadership and negotiating expertise, to ensure that the international environment is conducive to support and encourage American creativity.  USTR has worked to promote effective protection and enforcement of IPR through a variety of mechanisms, including bilateral and multilateral treaties.  Currently, the USTR is working together with key partners to forge an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The purpose of ACTA is to ensure adequate international standards for the protection of intellectual property.  The USTR utilizes other mechanisms in order to protect American innovation, notably enforcing U.S. Free Trade Agreements, which include strong IP protection and enforcement provisions; USTR's annual report card on international IPR protection; and the World Trade Organization (WTO) TRIPS Council and its dispute settlement mechanism.

Visit the intellectual property page to find out more about USTR's efforts to protect American innovation and combat counterfeiting and piracy.

Speaking Thursday at the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference Town Hall on Capitol Hill, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk stressed the importance of passing health insurance reform. Reforming the health care system is a trade priority - because American businesses and workers can't take full advantage of job-creating trade opportunities as long as our health care system drains their resources. Health reform will help to grow America's global economic competitiveness.

Watch the video below of Ambassador Kirk speaking about health care reform, and be sure to visit healthreform.gov.

Ambassador Kirk and Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov held a cordial and productive meeting Monday morning at the Office of the United State Trade Representative. At the meeting, the two leaders discussed multilateral and bilateral trade issues involving the United States and Russia, including concerns regarding U.S. exports of agricultural products, protection of intellectual property rights, and licensing procedures for certain information technology products.

Ambassador Kirk and First Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov discussed Russia's ongoing efforts to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Ambassador Kirk welcomed Mr. Shuvalov's clarification of Russia's aspirations with regard to WTO accession and operation of its overall trade regime, and reiterated that the United States continues to support Russia's individual accession to the WTO and will continue to provide constructive support to achieve that goal. Ambassador Kirk welcomed the prospect of renewed engagement with Russia on its WTO accession negotiations following a period of uncertainty regarding Russia's intentions. However, he again noted that progress in these multilateral negotiations has always depended and will still depend on Russia's dedication and work toward that end.

Ambassador Kirk will join other federal agencies and the Export-Import Bank this fall to participate in an eight-city seminar series to demonstrate how local businesses can successfully leverage government export assistance to expand sales of U.S. goods and services in foreign markets and increase their bottom lines.

The eight-city "Exports Live!: Real Deals, Real Profits" seminar series will review strategies and partnerships used by local small and medium-size businesses that have already discovered how to increase profitability through exporting.

The seminars will feature presentations and Q & A sessions by successful small-business exporters that have benefitted from export services and solutions provided by federal, state and local trade organizations.

The first seminar will kick off in New York City on October 5, 2009. It will be followed by similar sessions in Boston (Oct. 6), Miami (Oct. 26), Houston (Oct. 27), Detroit (Nov. 9), Chicago (Nov. 10), Los Angeles (Nov. 16), and Seattle (Nov. 17).

Keep checking USTR.gov for more information on Ambassador Kirk's role in the seminar series.

United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil this morning to meet with Brazilian government officials and business owners.  During his meetings Ambassador Kirk discussed various topics related to bilateral trade between the U.S. and Brazil, such as innovation and intellectual property rights

Ambassador Kirk addressed members of the American Chamber of Commerce and met with members of the private sector as well as labor leaders earlier this afternoon.

In his speech, Ambassador Kirk talked about the importance of the U.S.-Brazil relationship, and how it is growing.

"The U.S.-Brazil trading relationship is large, growing, and balanced. In 2008, U.S. exports to Brazil totaled $32.9 billion and imports from Brazil totaled $30.5 billion, supporting jobs and growth in both countries.

The United States is a top foreign investor in Brazil. In 2007, U.S. direct investment to Brazil was $41.6 billion, up 25.6% from 2006.  And Brazilian investments in the U.S. totaled $1.4 billion in 2007, up 33.7% from 2006.

These investments make a tremendous, positive contribution to our economies. We must continue to build on that success.

...We stand ready to listen to you and work with you.  We are facing many common challenges.  Among them is the need to stimulate economic growth in the face of the current global economic slowdown without turning inward or resorting to protectionist policies. We need to guard against protectionism around the world. During the Great Depression, knee-jerk protectionism sank the world into deeper suffering.  Country after country walled itself off from trade, each responding to the others' insular restrictions.  Soon global trade was at a near standstill.  We can't afford to let that happen again.  We need a trade policy that opens up opportunities, not one that shuts them down."

Tomorrow, Ambassador Kirk will be meeting with Minister of Exterior Relations Celso Amorim in Brasilia. Check back for more updates.

The United States has been a leader in promoting sustainable forest management and in drawing international attention to the economic and environmental consequences of illegal logging and associated trade.

USTR contributes to these efforts, including through innovative, trade-related agreements: a bilateral agreement with Indonesia, negotiated under the US-Indonesia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement; a bilateral agreement with China, negotiated under the Strategic Economic Dialogue; and the Annex on Forest Sector Governance of the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.

In a new initiative that builds on experience with the bilateral MOU, the United States and Indonesia recently convened the first Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue to Promote Trade in Legally Harvested Forest Products.  The dialogue was convened to facilitate government-to-government dialogue on combating illegal trade and promoting legal trade.  In addition to the United States and Indonesia, other countries participating in the dialogue included Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, and Vietnam.  The dialogue concluded with agreement to exchange and compile information on relevant activities, and to convene another regional dialogue with expanded participation.

Common elements in all of these efforts include: consultation between governments as well as within governments among relevant ministries; transparency, including improved information about markets and trade; capacity building to support sustainable management and efforts to improve governance; partnerships between governments and the private sector, including both commercial interests and NGOs; and enforcing obligations.

The United States and Indonesia Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperating to combat illegal logging and associated trade was concluded in 2006 in the context of a bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). The MOU establishes a working group under the TIFA to facilitate ongoing consultation, information sharing and enhanced cooperation for capacity building and law enforcement.

The United States and China, two of the largest importers and exporters of forest products, concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on combating illegal logging and associated trade in 2007.  A central element of the MOU is the creation of a forum in which the two countries can work to enhance their cooperation on combating illegal logging and associated trade and on promoting trade in forest products from legally-harvested resources.  Among other things, the United States and China are also using the MOU to improve information sharing and encourage public-private partnerships in order to further efforts to combat illegal logging.

Visit the environment page to find out more about USTR's role in the government's efforts to combat illegal logging and associated trade.

Ambassador Kirk arrived in New Delhi, India last night to participate in the World Trade Organization's Ministerial Meeting on the Doha Development Agenda. While in New Delhi, Ambassador Kirk will meet with fellow WTO Ministers in plurilateral and bilateral meetings to discuss how best to advance the Doha Development Agenda in the near future. See pictures below from the first day of his trip.

Ambassador Kirk and Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma

Ambassador Kirk meets with Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming