The Year in Trade 2017
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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. U.S International Trade Commission | 1 2 | www.usitc.gov 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 U.S International Trade Commission | 3 The Year in Trade 2017 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 ....................................................................