The Year in Trade 2014 Operation of the Trade Agreements Program 66Th Report
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United States International Trade Commission The Year in Trade 2014 Operation of the Trade Agreements Program 66th Report July 2015 Publication Number: 4543 United States International Trade Commission Commissioners Meredith M. Broadbent, Chairman Dean A. Pinkert, Vice Chairman Irving A. Williamson David S. Johanson F. Scott Kieff Rhonda K. Schmidtlein Catherine B. DeFilippo Director, Office of Operations William Powers Acting Director, Office of Economics Address all communications to Secretary to the Commission United States International Trade Commission Washington, DC 20436 United States International Trade Commission The Year in Trade 2014 Operation of the Trade Agreements Program 66th Report July 2015 Publication Number: 4543 United States International Trade Commission This report was prepared principally by: Project Leader Joanne Guth, Office of Economics Deputy Project Leader Lin Jones, Office of Economics Office of Economics Justino De La Cruz, William Greene, Jeffrey Horowitz, Alexi Maxwell, Alissa Tafti, Edward Wilson, and Wen Jin Yuan Office of General Counsel William W. Gearhart Office of Industries Cathy Jabara, Joann Peterson, and Laura Rodriguez Office of Investigations Angela Newell Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements Naomi Freeman and Daniel Shepherdson Office of Unfair Import Investigations David Lloyd Office of Analysis and Research Services Russell Duncan, Peg Hausman, and Jeremy Wise Content Reviewer Jan Summers Special Assistance Cynthia Payne, Sonya Wilson Help Desk and Customer Service Division (CIO) Under the direction of Arona Butcher, Chief Country and Regional Analysis Division Year in Trade Preface This report is the 66th 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 calendar year 2014. 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. U.S. International Trade Commission | 1 Year in Trade Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................................... 1 Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................ 11 Executive Summary .......................................................................................... 15 Chapter 1 Overview of U.S. Trade ..................................................................... 37 Scope and Approach of the Report .......................................................................................... 37 Trade Data ................................................................................................................................. 37 Overview of the U.S. Economy in 2014 .................................................................................... 38 Exchange-Rate Trends ........................................................................................................... 41 Balance of Payments ............................................................................................................. 41 U.S. Trade in Goods in 2014 ...................................................................................................... 43 U.S. Merchandise Trade by Product Category ...................................................................... 44 Exports .............................................................................................................................. 44 Imports .............................................................................................................................. 44 U.S. Imports under Preferential Programs and Free Trade Agreements ............................. 45 U.S. Merchandise Trade with Leading Partners.................................................................... 46 U.S. Trade in Services in 2014 ................................................................................................... 48 U.S. Services Trade by Product Category .............................................................................. 48 Exports .............................................................................................................................. 48 Imports .............................................................................................................................. 49 U.S. Services Trade with Leading Partners............................................................................ 50 Chapter 2 Administration of U.S. Trade Laws and Regulations .......................... 53 Import Relief Laws .................................................................................................................... 53 Safeguard Actions ................................................................................................................. 53 Laws against Unfair Trade Practices ......................................................................................... 53 Section 301 Investigations .................................................................................................... 53 Section 301 Investigations ................................................................................................ 54 Special 301 ........................................................................................................................ 56 Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations and Reviews ..................................... 60 Antidumping Duty Investigations ..................................................................................... 60 Countervailing Duty Investigations ................................................................................... 63 Reviews of Outstanding Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders/Suspension Agreements ....................................................................................................................... 64 Section 337 Investigations .................................................................................................... 65 Trade Adjustment Assistance ................................................................................................... 67 Assistance for Workers ......................................................................................................... 68 Assistance for Firms .............................................................................................................. 70 Tariff Preference Programs ....................................................................................................... 72 U.S. International Trade Commission | 3 Table of Contents Generalized System of Preferences ...................................................................................... 72 African Growth and Opportunity Act .................................................................................... 74 Andean Trade Preference Act ............................................................................................... 79 Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act .............................................................................. 80 Haiti Initiatives .................................................................................................................. 82 Chapter 3 The World Trade Organization .......................................................... 87 DDA and General Council Work under the Bali Package .......................................................... 87 Agreement on Trade Facilitation and Food Security Stockholdings ......................................... 88 November Special General Council Session ............................................................................. 89 Work Programs, Decisions, and Reviews .................................................................................. 90 Waivers ................................................................................................................................. 90 Accessions ............................................................................................................................. 91 Selected Plurilateral Agreements ............................................................................................. 93 Information Technology Agreement (ITA) ............................................................................ 93 Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) ................................................................. 94 Negotiations on an Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) .............................................. 95 Dispute Settlement Body .......................................................................................................... 97 New Requests for Consultations and New Panels Established .......................................... 101 Requests for Consultations Filed during 2014 in which the United States was the Complaining Party or Named Respondent ....................................................................