TRADE AGREEMENTS & NEGOTIATIONS

Trade Policy and Analysis (TP&A) staff play a role in the negotiation and analysis of trade agreements in both multilateral negotiations, such as the WTO, and bilateral negotiations, such as free trade agreements.

Multilateral Trade Negotiations

U.S. Free Trade Agreements

Trade Agreement Data and Analysis

Other Trade Agreement Studies and Reports

2015 Brings New Market Access and Duty-Free Treatment for U.S. Exports (2015)
2014 Brings New Market Access and Duty-Free Treatment for U.S. exports to Korea, Morocco, and Australia (2014)

Role of Trade Policy and Analysis

TP&A staff in the Office of Trade Negotiations and Analysis (OTNA) participate in trade agreement negotiations and analysis in three areas: industrial goods market access, government procurement and rules of origin. The Office of Standards and Investment Policy (OSIP) participate in investment market access negotiations. In addition, OTNA and the Office of Trade and Economic Analysis (OTEA) analyze the potential effects of new trade agreements and produce sector-specific reports highlighting the new market access trade agreements will provide to U.S. exporters. Additionally, OTEA analyzes the impact third-party trade agreements have on the competitiveness of U.S. industry.

Industrial Goods Market Access

OTNA serves as the International Trade Administration’s principal technical expert on industrial tariffs in bilateral and multilateral negotiations. In this capacity, OTNA:

Develops U.S. positions and creates the U.S. tariff offers;
Analyzes industrial market access tariff offers of FTA partners to ensure meaningful access for U.S. industry; and
Creates specific tariff elimination requests.

Rules of Origin

OTNA serves as the ITA expert on product-specific rules of origin. In bilateral negotiations, OTNA:

Ensures industry views are included in U.S. positions, and
Maintains a database of previously negotiated product specific rules of origin.

Government Procurement

OTNA serves as the International Trade Administration's principal policy advisor procurement market access negotiations. In multilateral and bilateral negotiations, OTNA:

Develops U.S. offers and requests based on industry input and assessments from Industry and Analysis industry specialists and domestic law;
Serves as principal policy advisor to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on government procurement market access negotiations;
Attends market access negotiations to support USTR and ensure that ITA views are reflected in U.S. proposals; and
Analyzes and reports on the outcome and potential benefits stemming from the agreement.

Investment

The Office of Standards and Investment Policy (OSIP) serves as the International Trade Administration's principal policy advisor for investment market access negotiations. In multilateral and bilateral negotiations, OSIP:

Develops and reviews U.S. offers and requests based on industry input and assessments from Industry and Analysis industry specialists and domestic law;
Serves as principal policy advisor to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on investment market access negotiations;
Attends market access negotiations to support USTR and ensure that ITA views are reflected in U.S. proposals; and
Analyzes and reports on the outcome and potential benefits stemming from the agreement.

Agreement Analysis

The offices of Trade Policy and Analysis conduct various analyses on bilateral and multilateral agreements to assess their impact on U.S. industry.

The Office of Trade Negotiations and Analysis produces industry-specific sector reports for the agreements highlighting the effects of the agreement on those industries’ market access in the partner markets.
The Office of Trade and Economic Analysis analyzes third-country agreements to assess the impact those agreements will have on U.S. companies competing in those markets and overall U.S. competitiveness. Additionally, OTEA conducts analysis of the potential effects of new free trade agreements on individual states looking at the opportunities for industries in those states.
The Office of Standards and Investment Policy analyzes the value of new investment market access from FDI liberalization in the partner market.

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For more information please contact: Katrice Kelly

Last Updated: 5/15/19 1:05 PM