WORLD  TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/TPR/S/275 
13 November 2012  
 
(12-6166) 
Trade Policy Review Body  
   
 
  
 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW 
 
Report by the Secretariat 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
  
 
This report, prepared for the eleventh Trade Policy Review of United States, has 
been drawn up by the WTO Secretaria t on its own responsibility.  The 
Secretariat has, as required by the Agreement establishing the Trade Policy 
Review Mechanism (Annex 3 of the Ma rrakesh Agreement Establishing the 
World Trade Organization), sought clarification from the United States on its 
trade policies and practices. 
 
Any technical questions arising from this report may be addressed to 
Messrs. John Finn (tel:  022/739 5081) a nd Pierre Latrille (tel:  022/739 5266), 
Mrs. Denby Probst (tel:  022/739 5847), and Messrs. Jesse Kreier (tel:  
022/739 5140), Juan Marchetti (tel:  02 2/739 5871), and Raymundo Valdés (tel:  
022/739 5346).   
 
Document WT/TPR/G/275 contains the policy statement submitted by the 
United States. 
 
 
 
Note: This report is subject to restricted circ ulation and press embargo until the end of the first 
session of the meeting of the Trade Policy Review Body on the United States. United States WT/TPR/S/275 
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 CONTENTS 
    Page 
SUMMARY   ix 
I.  ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT 1  
(1)  RECENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS  1  
(2)  MONETARY , FISCAL , AND OTHER POLICIES  4  
(3)  DEVELOPMENTS IN TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT  6  
(i)  Merchandise trade 6  
(ii)  Trade in services 10  
(iii)  Foreign direct investment 12  
II.  TRADE POLICY AND INVESTMENT REGIMES 14  
(1)  TRADE POLICY FORMULATION AND FRAMEWORK  14  
(2)  PARTICIPATION IN THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION  15  
(3)  PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND ARRANGEMENTS  16  
(i)  Reciprocal trade agreements 17  
(ii)  Unilateral preferences 19  
(4)  INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS AND POLICIES  26  
(i)  Bilateral investment treaties and framework agreements 26  
(ii)  Investment promotion 27  
(iii)  Investment regulations and restrictions 28  
(5)  AID-FOR-TRADE  29  
III.  TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY MEASURE 30  
(1)  MEASURES DIRECTLY AFFECTING IMPORTS  30  
(i)  Customs procedures 30  
(ii)  Customs valuation 32  
(iii)  Rules of origin 32  
(iv)  Tariffs 38  
(v)  Other charges affecting imports 42  
(vi)  Contingency measures 46  
(vii) Quantitative trade measures, restrictions, controls, and licensing 54  
(viii) Technical regulations and standards 58  
(ix)  Sanitary and phytosanitary measures 61  
(2)  MEASURES DIRECTLY AFFECTING EXPORTS  65  
(i)  Customs procedures and documentation 65  
(ii)  Export taxes and fees 65  
(iii)  Prohibitions, restrictions, and licensing 66  
(iv)  Official support and rela ted fiscal measures 70  
  (3)  OTHER MEASURES AFFECTING INVESTMENT AND TRADE  72  
(i)  Business framework and business investment incentives 72  
(ii)  State trading enterprises, government corporations, and government 
enterprises 73  
(iii)  Government procurement 76  
(iv)  Subsidies and other government assistance 79 WT/TPR/S/275 Trade Policy Review 
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     Page 
(v)  Competition policy 83  
(vi)  Trade-related intellectual property rights 84  
IV.  TRADE POLICIES BY SECTOR 99  
(1)  AGRICULTURE  99  
(i)  Agriculture in the United States 99  
(ii)  Agriculture policies 103  
(iii)  Levels of support 108  
(2)  FISHERIES  111  
(i)  Fisheries in the United States 111  
(ii)  Trade 113  
(iii)  Fisheries policy 114  
(3)  SERVICES  117  
(i)  Environmental services 117  
(ii)  Financial services 121  
REFERENCES   129 APPENDIX TABLES  135  
 
 
 United States WT/TPR/S/275 
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 CHARTS 
    P a g e  
I. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT  
I.1 Contributions to real GDP growth, 2008-12 1 
I.2 U.S. current account and net financial flows, 2008-12 3 
I.3 Index of trade-weighted exchange rate of dollar, 2008-12 4 
I.4 Merchandise trade, by main origin and destination, 2010 and 2011 8 I.5 Merchandise trade, by product, 2010 and 2011 9 
I.6 Foreign direct investment into the United States, 2007-11 13 
II. TRADE AND INVESTMENT REGIMES  II.1 Formulation of the trade policy 14 
II.2 Imports for consumption, by type of import regime, 2011 16 
II.3 Unilateral preferences imports, by programme, 2011 20 
III. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY MEASURE 
III.1 Overview of non-preferential rules of origin 33 
III.2 MNF tariff distribution, 2012  40 III.3 Federal excise taxes reported and collected, fiscal year 2010 46 
III.4 Anti-dumping investigations initiated, by region, 2008-12 47 
III.5 Anti-dumping investigations initiated, by product, 2008-12 48 
III.6 Countervailing measures initiated, by region, 2008-12 51 
III.7 Countervailing measures initiated, by product, 2008-12 52 III.8 Federal Government procurement, by agency, 2010 76 
III.9 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Funds paid out 82 
III.10 Royalties and licence fees, 2002-11 86 III.11 Royalties and licence fees, distribution of receipts and payments, 2010 87 
IV. TRADE POLICIES BY SECTOR  
IV.1 Exports and imports of agriculture products, 2002-11 101 
IV.2 Green Box support in the United States, 2001-09 109 
IV.3 Amber Box support in the United States, 2001-09 110 
TABLES 
I. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT  
I.1 Selected macroeconomi c indicators, 2008-11 2 
I.2 U.S. commercial services exports, by type, 2008-11 11 I.3 U.S. commercial services imports, by type, 2008-11 11 
I.4 U.S. commercial services exports (modes 1, 2, and 4), by destination, 2008-10 11 
I.5 U.S. commercial services imports (modes 1, 2, and 4), by origin, 2008-10 12 
II. TRADE AND INVESTMENT REGIMES  
II.1 Economic impact and predictions fo r the new free-trade agreements 17 
II.2 Overview of the new U.S. FTAs, 1 January 2010-30 June 2012 17 
II.3 Trade under reciprocal trade agreements, 2011 19 WT/TPR/S/275 Trade Policy Review 
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II.4 Overview of GSP  21 
II.5 Overview of the AGOA 22 
II.6 Overview of CBERA 23 II.7 Overview of CBTPA 24 
II.8 Overview of ATPA/ATPDEA 25 
II.9 Overview of trade with freely associated States 25 
II.10 Overview of trade with the West Bank, G aza Strip, and Qualified Industrial Zones 26 
II.11 CFIUS covered transaction notices, withdrawals, and decisions, 2009-11 28 
III. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY MEASURE  III.1 Overview of preferential ru les of origin criteria, 2012 34 
III.2 Exemptions to the section 304 marking requirement 37 
III.3 Changes or developments in U.S. preferential rules of origin, January 2010-June 2012 37 III.4 Structure of the tariff schedule, selected years 39 
III.5 MPF exemptions, 2012 43 
III.6 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act fees 44 III.7 Agriculture fees, 2012 45 
III.8 Anti-dumping investigations, 2008-12 47 
III.9 Anti-dumping measures, by country, 2008-11 49 
III.10 Overview of five-year sunset investigations initiated, as of year-end 2011 49 
III.11 Countervailing duty investigations initiated, 2008-12 51 III.12 Overview of five-y ear sunset reviews initiated, as of year-end 2011 52 
III.13 U.S. FTA safeguard implementation legislation, as of 2012 53 
III.14 Products subject to U.S. import licensing procedures, 2011 54 III.15 Laws, regulations and guidelines on developing technical regulations and  
 conformity assessment procedures 59 
III.16 Recalls by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, FY 2007-11 61 III.17 Notifications by the United States, 1 January 2010 to 30 June 2012 63 
III.18 Ex-Im Bank authorizations, 2008-11 72 
III.19 Government sponsored enterprises 74 III.20 Government corporations, 2011 74 
III.21 State-trading enterprises, 2010 75 
III.22 Federal subsidy programmes, 2011 (fiscal year 2010) 79 III.23 Federal programmes on biofuels, 2011 81 
III.24 DOJ investigations initiated pursuant to antitrust laws, 2008-11 83 
III.25 FTC investigations initiated pursuant to antitrust laws, 2008-11 83 III.26 Summary of intellectual property protection in the United States, May 2012 91 
IV. TRADE POLICIES BY SECTOR  
IV.1 Value of production, 2007-11 99 
IV.2 U.S. and world produc tion and trade of selected commodities, 2006-11 100 
IV.3 Exports and imports of selected products, 2005-11 102 IV.4 Deliveries of food aid from the United States, 2006-10 105 
IV.5 Total producer support estimate and single  commodity transfer values for selected  
 commodities, 2002-10 111 IV.6 Commercial landings of selected species, 2002-10 112 
IV.7 Trade in fish and fisheries products, 2004-10 114 
IV.8 Market structure of environmental services 117 
IV.9 Private-sector involvem ent in water and waste water management services, 2012 119 
IV.10 Summarized trade regimes for environmental services 120 United States WT/TPR/S/275 
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 APPENDIX TABLES 
    P a g e  
I. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT  
AI.1 Balance of payments, 2008-11 137 
AI.2 Merchandise exports and re-exports, by trading partner, 2008-11 138 
AI.3 Merchandise exports and re-exports, by group of products, 2008-11 139 
AI.4 Merchandise imports, by trading partner, 2008-11 140 AI.5 Merchandise imports, by group of products, 2008-11 141 
II. TRADE AND INVESTMENT REGIMES  
AII.1 WTO dispute settlement cases, 1 January 2010-30 June 2012 142 
AII.2 Selected notifications to the Central Registry of Notifications (CRN),  
 1 January 2010-30 June 2012 144 
III. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY MEASURE  AIII.1 Summary analysis of the MFN tariff, 2012 146 
AIII.2 Summary analysis of ta riffs, according to preferentia l agreements, interim rates  
 as of 30 June 2012 147 AIII.3 Royalties and licence fees, 2010 148 
AIII.4 Main dedicated IP laws and regulations 149 
 United States WT/TPR/S/275 
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 SUMMARY 
1. The United States' economy has been marked by slow but steady recovery and some 
re-balancing since its last Review.  Merchandi se and services trade figures have re-bounded 
significantly since the 2009 financial crisis and have now reached new peak levels, surpassing 
previous 2008 peak levels.  Services trade in pa rticular has shown a growing trade surplus, and 
services account for approximately 70% of U.S. out put.  The United States has set in motion policies 
for domestic and international rebalancing; i.e. moving away from consumption and real estate and 
encouraging export and investment growth. 
2. Since its last Review, United States has moved ahead with the legislative approval of three 
free-trade agreements and the extension of two lapsed preference programmes (the Generalized 
System of Preferences and the Andean Trade Pref erences Act (ATPA)).  The free-trade agreements 
with Korea and Colombia entered into force in  March and May 2012, respectively; while the FTA 
with Panama has not been implemented at the ti me of writing.  According to the 2012 Trade Policy 
Agenda, the United States is workin g toward the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional 
trade agreement and towards extending permanent no rmal trade relations with Russia.  Preferential 
trade accounts for an important and growing percentage of U.S. trade;  in 2011, 20.1% of U.S. imports 
were under preferential regimes, reciprocal pr eferences accounted for 16.4% and unilateral 
preferences for 3.7%. 
3. Foreign direct investment continues to play an  important role in the U.S. economy by making 
important contributions to U.S. employment, R&D,  and exports.  The United States is the world's 
largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI), which totalled US$228 billion in 2011.  As 
concerns investment policy, after several years of review, the United States completed a new model bilateral investment treaty (BIT) framework contai ning detailed provisions to foster or facilitate the 
flow of investment; and in June 2011, new steps we re taken to facilitate and attract inward FDI into 
the United States by creating the first government-i nitiated centralized investment promotion body 
through the SelectUSA initiative. 
4. The financial services sector accounted for 8.5% of U.S. GDP in 2010, 47% of which was 
generated by banking activities, 33% by insurance, and 16% by securities trading activities.  Over the 
last decade, the U.S. has run trade surpluses in financ ial services and trade deficits in insurance.  The 
United States has the largest securities and insura nce markets in the world.  The main regulatory 
reform since the last Review is the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 
which entered into force in Ju ly 2010.  The Act's main objectives include promoting financial 
stability, ending "too big to fail", ending bailouts,  protecting taxpayers, a nd protecting consumers 
from abusive financial services practices.   
5. Intellectual property (IP) has a central place in the domestic economy and the international 
trade profile of the United States.  The United States is one of the most well established and mature IP 
jurisdictions, however, the legal, economic, and tr ade policy context of IP continued to evolve 
significantly in the review period, notably through major legislative developments, significant judicial 
decisions, regulatory legislation, strengthened domes tic enforcement, an enhanced policy focus on the 
role of IP, and consolidation of a trend towards development of markets in IP. 
6. U.S. import policy has remained relatively static in recent years, with few major legislative or 
regulatory initiatives.  On the export side, th e United States has launched the National Export 
Initiative, aimed at improving trade advocacy and pursuing policies to promote growth; and the 
Export Control Reform Initiative, to reconcile po licies for export controls.  In addition, the WT/TPR/S/275 Trade Policy Review 
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 Export-Import Bank has significantly increased its export financing to support the National Export 
Initiative. 
7. Since 2010, growth has averaged 2.2% annually.  Recovery slowed somewhat in 2011 and 
original projections for 2012 have been revised sligh tly downwards, in large part due to the impact of 
the European financial crisis and its impact on th ird country markets.  While there are generally 
positive signs in the U.S. recovery, it will still take mo re time to reach pre-crisis levels, and certain 
aspects of the economy still show weaknesses, such as the housing market and unemployment levels. 
8. International trade and investment policies play an important role in the U.S. economy, with 
investment, consumer spending, and exports contributi ng to the growth in real GDP in recent years.  
In 2010, the President set a goal of doubling exports in five years, and two major policies have since 
emerged.  Exports, as a share of GDP, have grown by 13% since the end of the recession and reached a historic high of 13.8% of GDP in 2011. 
9. Following a significant downturn during the financ ial crisis, U.S. merchandise trade (imports 
and exports) rebounded in 201 0 and 2011 and surpassed 2008 record levels.  While both imports and 
exports grew, import growth outpaced export growth , thus the worsening of the merchandise trade 
deficit.  Imports grew 16% to reach US$2,236 billion, and exports also grew 16% to reach 
US$1,497 billion.  Services trade, on the other hand,  has shown a strong and growing trade surplus in 
recent years and has had an important impact on the current account balance.  U.S. commercial services exports grew 9.2% in 2011, while imports  grew 6.9%, thus the trade in services surplus 
widened to US$186 billion.    
10. The United States has one of the largest agricultu re sectors in the world with a total value of 
production of US$372 billion in  2011. It is also the largest agriculture exporting country, with exports 
of US$144.8 billion, although agriculture represents l ess than 1% of GDP.  Due to its large share in 
world production, exports, and imports of agricultu ral products, developments in the United States, 
including changes to agricultural po licies, have an important impact on world markets.  There have 
been no major changes to agriculture policies in th e United States since its last Review, and The Food, 
Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 remains th e basis for most agricultural programmes until it 
expires.   
11. On customs-related issues, the U.S. continues to move forward on a number of trade 
facilitating initiatives that were passed into legislation several years ago, but have been delayed or not 
yet been fully implemented, e.g. scanning of maritime  containers and air cargo, thus their full impact 
or effects are not yet clear.  Long-standing laws and regulations on rules of origin and marking 
requirements remain virtually unchanged, albe it their complexity and application remain 
unnecessarily cumbersome with the possibility of sever al different rules being applicable across 
sectors and final outcome being dependent on a number of factors.  The United States also imposes a number of fees or charges on imports that vary de pending on the source, va lue, and type of import; 
these include the merchandise processing fee, COBR A fees, harbour maintenance tax, agriculture 
fees, and excise taxes.  On customs valuation, the situation has remained virt ually unchanged with no 
new legislation or procedures, and the po sition is similar for import licensing.   
12. U.S. tariff protection on imports remained near ly unchanged during the review period and in 
general remains relatively low.  Significant amount s of trade enter the United States duty free under 
MFN tariffs with zero rates of duty or through the preference programmes.  However, significant 
tariff peaks remain in certain sect ors, such as footwear, leather, textiles and clothing, and in 
agriculture where there is also a considerable number of non- ad valorem  tariffs.   United States WT/TPR/S/275 
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 13. The United States continues to use trade remedies  as part of its trade policy, as the use of 
anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing cases conti nued during the period.  The initiation of AD 
investigations increased from 3 to 15 cases in 2011 af ter only a few initiations in 2010.  There have 
been no particular trends in the overall number of CVD investigations initiated in recent years, but as 
with AD investigations, the majority of CVD inv estigations initiated during the past five years 
involved imports from Asian countries (92%).  During the review period, the United States adopted or 
proposed several modifications to its methodology for the calculation of dumping margins in the case 
of non-market economies.   
14. The United States continues to be active in the areas of standards and phytosanitary measures, 
especially in the work of the WTO Committees, w ith respect to making notifications, and with 
disputes concerning these subjects.  Between 1 Jan uary 2010 and 30 June 2012, the United States 
made 520 notifications to the Committee on TBT of which, 337 were addenda or corrigenda, and 537 
to the Committee on SPS.  With a few exceptions, su ch as the Food Safety Modernization Act, the 
procedures for developing technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures for TBT and 
SPS matters have not changed over the past few years.