The membership of the WTO - the Geneva-based ambassadors and their colleagues - meet in several different guises.  Sometimes they meet as the WTO General Council, with Ambassador Jonathan Fried of Canada as chairman.  And sometimes they sit as the Trade Policy Review Body, which is chaired by Ambassador Mariam MD Salleh of Malaysia.  That was the case on December 18, when the WTO concluded its 12th trade policy review of the United States.  Some 51 countries weighed in with comments in the course of the two days of the review - December 16 and 18.  In his remarks on the 18th, America's ambassador to the WTO, Michael Punke, thanked those who had spoken for their observations and "the mostly constructive spirit in which they were articulated."

Today's quote, taken from Ambassador Punke's statement on the 18th, focuses on the rationale for America's commitment to the WTO.  The larger portion of his remarks, however, was, in effect, a response to concerns that had been raised by the WTO staff in their report on U.S. trade policy and/or by other WTO members in their interventions.  We will touch on some of those issues in a minute.

First, though, a word about the Trade Policy Review Mechanism or TPRM.  Like the WTO itself, the TPRM and the Trade Policy Review Body, TPRB, were created by the Uruguay Round.  Specifically, the language establishing those entities is in Annex 3 of the Marrakesh Agreement. As Annex 3 explains:

The same document also describes how the system will work, noting for example, that the trade of the top four trading countries - currently the U.S., the EU, China, and Japan - will be reviewed every two years.  The trade policies of the others will be less often, with the trading levels of different countries determining the frequency of their reviews. 

So what were some of the issues Ambassador Punke responded to on the 18th ?   Recognizing that this is New Year's Eve and people have better things to do tonight, we'll mention just three.

The U.S. Farm Bill was one of them.  The WTO staff report set the stage, declaring that:

In her concluding remarks, the Chairperson for the Review, Ambassador Salleh, said:

Ambassador Punke accepted that the U.S. Farm bill is an important "fact on the ground," but he rejected the notion that it is an obstacle in the Doha Round.  He said:
 
Tariffs and Tariff Preferences.  We are combining two issues here.  One is the concern expressed about the tariff peaks in the U.S. schedule.  The other deals with two major U.S. preference programs: the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which has lapsed, and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which will expire next September, unless renewed.  The overlap is not perfect, since some of the tariffs at issue are not covered in the preference programs.  Still, it is probably the case that the concerns over tariff peaks would be eased considerably if the future of those two preference programs were secure. 

Responding to the issue of tariff peaks, Ambassador Punke said:

Ambassador Punke spoke in a very different tone, however, when he turned to concerns about the major preference programs.  He said:

Procurement and Buy America Provisions.  In her summary of this issue, Chairperson Salleh said:

Addressing the same topic, Ambassador Punke understandably referenced the "hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. government procurement" that are open to foreign bidders, and he stressed America's commitment to ensuring that the U.S. government's procurement is conducted in a manner that is "consistent with its obligations under the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement."  He concluded this section by saying that the U.S. remains "open to discussing specific procurement concerns."

The first thing to note here is how much we have left out.  We have not said a word about the praise the U.S. received for America's openness, for her restraint, and for her leadership in the WTO, particularly with respect to getting the Trade Facilitation Agreement over the finish line.  Those issues are all in the papers we have referenced, however, along with a slew of other topics, from the Jones Act to U.S. fishing subsidies, to the use of antidumping duties and other trade remedies. Yet all of those topics and more are dealt with in this latest WTO Trade Policy Review for the United States.

With apologies for repeating an obvious point, this is New Year's Eve.  And while your grey-haired editor greatly values his time in Washington, there are certain advantages to celebrating this holiday on the West Coast, as we shall do this evening here in Portland, Oregon.  When it is midnight in New York and the ball drops in Time Square, we can watch it on TV. But here it will only be 9 p.m.  We can then drink a bubbly toast to the New Year, sing a chorus of Auld Lang Syne - old acquaintance should NOT, NOT be forgot! - and still be in bed not much after 10 o'clock.  Marvellous.

Oh yes, and there is one more thing we'll do.  We'll take stock of some of the strengths that should help make 2015 all that we hope for it.  One of those is that Michael Punke is America's ambassador to the WTO.  He is just so able.  We will end this final entry for 2014 with his closing comments on the second and final day of the WTO's 2014 of U.S. trade policy: