[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 172 (Thursday, September 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72696-72697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19881]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Number USTR-2024-0017]


Request for Comments on the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council 
(TTC) Global Trade Challenges Working Group

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) 
seeks comments on the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) Global 
Trade Challenges Working Group. USTR will use these comments as it 
considers future TTC-related collaboration it may pursue with the 
European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade (DG Trade).

DATES: To be assured of consideration, submit written comments by the 
October 21, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET deadline.

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made through 
the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov 
(Regulations.gov). Follow the instructions for submitting comments in 
section III below, using docket number is USTR-2024-0017. For 
alternatives to online submissions, please contact Michael Rogers, 
Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe, at 
[email protected] or 202.395.2684, in advance of the 
deadline.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Rogers, Deputy Assistant U.S. 
Trade Representative for Europe, at [email protected] or 
202.395.2684.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On June 15, 2021, the United States and the European Union (EU) 
announced the creation of the TTC with goals to:
     Grow the bilateral trade and investment relationship.
     Avoid new unnecessary technical barriers to trade.
     Coordinate, seek common ground, and strengthen global 
cooperation on technology, digital issues, and supply chains.
     Support collaborative research and exchanges.
     Cooperate on compatible and international standards 
development.
     Facilitate regulatory policy and enforcement cooperation 
and, where possible, convergence.
     Promote innovation and leadership by U.S. and European 
firms.
     Contribute to the creation of a stronger, more 
sustainable, and more resilient transatlantic marketplace through the 
facilitation of environmentally responsible trade in goods and 
technologies.
     Advance cooperation to benefit workers in the global 
economy.
     Strengthen other areas of cooperation.
    The work undertaken in the TTC is without prejudice to the 
regulatory autonomy of the U.S. and the EU and respects the different 
legal systems in both jurisdictions.
    The U.S. and the EU established ten working groups to undertake the 
work of the TTC. USTR and DG Trade serve as the U.S. and EU co-chairs 
of the Global Trade Challenges Working Group (Trade Working Group). 
Many of the activities of the Trade Working Group fall within three 
broad categories of cooperation:
    1. To enhance inclusive and sustainable bilateral U.S.-EU trade in 
goods and services, including through the use of digital technology.
    2. To address and counter non-market policies and practices that 
unfairly undermine the competitiveness of U.S and EU workers and firms.
    3. On trade and labor issues, including through the tripartite 
transatlantic Trade and Labor Dialogue (TALD), established through the 
TTC.
    Non-market policies and practices of concern include, but are not 
limited to:
     Targeting of key industries for dominance.
     Creation and maintenance of non-market excess capacity.
     Unfair labor practices including the use of forced labor.
     Forced or pressured technology transfer, including through 
state-sponsored theft of intellectual property.
     Market-distorting industrial subsidies, including support 
given to and through state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and all other 
types of support offered by governments.
     Discriminatory treatment of foreign companies and their 
products and services in support of industrial policy objectives.
     Anti-competitive and non-market actions of SOEs.
    In April 2024, the U.S. and the EU held the sixth ministerial-level 
meeting of the TTC in Leuven, Belgium. In the joint statement released 
at the end of the ministerial, the U.S. and the EU announced their 
intention to consult with stakeholders on the work of the TTC and 
potential future work that the TTC may undertake.

II. Public Participation

    To help inform USTR as it considers future cooperation within the 
Trade Working Group, USTR invites comments on the following:
     With specific regard to the Trade Working Group's efforts 
to enhance inclusive and sustainable bilateral trade in goods and 
services, including through the use of digital tools, how might USTR 
and DG Trade further improve or expand cooperation in a manner that is 
mutually beneficial to U.S. and EU stakeholders.
     With specific regard to the work of the Trade Working 
Group related to non-market policies and practices of third countries:
     How might USTR and DG Trade expand or enhance our 
cooperation and coordination of trade tools available to us or to 
create new tools.
     How might USTR and DG Trade, respectively or in 
coordination, use existing tools more effectively to deter and counter 
non-market policies and practices.
     Are there particular sectors that USTR and DG Trade should 
focus on?
     Are there particular non-market policies and practices 
that are of greatest concern to you? Why? How do those non-market 
policies and practices hinder or harm your interests?
     With specific regard to the work of the Trade Working 
Group related to trade and labor, including within the TALD, how might 
USTR, the U.S. Department of Labor, DG Trade, and the Directorate-
General for Employment expand or enhance our cooperation and 
coordination to better address the needs of U.S. and EU workers and 
businesses.
     What steps can USTR take to provide a wide-range of U.S. 
and EU stakeholders the opportunity to periodically provide 
suggestions, feedback, and input to the Trade Working Group.
    USTR will review these recommendations as it considers

[[Page 72697]]

potential future U.S.-EU cooperation within the TTC's Trade Working 
Group.

III. Procedures for Written Submissions

    To be assured of consideration, submit your written comments by the 
October 21, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET deadline. All submissions must be in 
English. USTR strongly encourages submissions via Regulations.gov, 
using Docket Number USTR-2024-0017. To make a submission via 
Regulations.gov, enter Docket Number USTR-2024-0017 in the `search for' 
field on the home page and click `search.' The site will provide a 
search results page listing all documents associated with this docket. 
Find a reference to this notice by selecting `notice' under `document 
type' in the `refine documents results' section on the left side of the 
screen and click on the link entitled `comment.' Regulations.gov allows 
users to make submissions by filling in a `type comment' field, or by 
attaching a document using the `upload file' field. USTR prefers that 
you provide submissions in an attached document and, in such cases, 
that you write `see attached' in the `type comment' field. USTR prefers 
submissions in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf). If you 
use an application other than those two, please indicate the name of 
the application in the `type comment' field.
    At the beginning of your submission or on the first page (if an 
attachment), include the following text: (1) TTC Trade Working Group 
and (2) your organization's name. Submissions should not exceed 10 
single-spaced, standard letter-size pages in 12-point type, including 
attachments. Please do not attach separate cover letters, exhibits, 
annexes, or other attachments to electronic submissions; rather, 
include any in the same file as the submission itself, not as separate 
files. You will receive a tracking number upon completion of the 
submission procedure at Regulations.gov. The tracking number is 
confirmation that Regulations.gov received your submission. Keep the 
confirmation for your records.
    USTR is not able to provide technical assistance for 
Regulations.gov. For further information on using Regulations.gov, 
please consult the resources provided on the website by clicking on 
`How to Use Regulations.gov' on the bottom of the home page. USTR may 
not consider submissions that you do not make in accordance with these 
instructions.
    If you are unable to provide submissions as requested, please 
contact Michael Rogers, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for 
Europe, in advance of the deadline at [email protected] or 
202.395.2684, to arrange for an alternative method of transmission. 
USTR will not accept hand-delivered submissions.
    General information concerning USTR is available at www.ustr.gov.

IV. Business Confidential Information (BCI)

    If you ask USTR to treat information you submit as BCI, you must 
certify that the information is business confidential and you would not 
customarily release it to the public. For any comments submitted 
electronically containing BCI, the file name of the business 
confidential version should begin with the characters `BCI.' You must 
clearly mark any page containing BCI with `BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL' at 
the top of that page. Filers of submissions containing BCI also must 
submit a public version of their submission that will be placed in the 
docket for public inspection. The file name of the public version 
should begin with the character `P.'

V. Public Viewing of Review Submissions

    USTR will post written submissions in the docket for public 
inspection, except properly designated BCI. You can view submissions at 
Regulations.gov by entering Docket Number USTR-2024-0017 in the search 
field on the home page.

Bryant Trick,
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East, 
Office of the United States Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2024-19881 Filed 9-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3390-F4-P