81526 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 224 / Wednesday, November 22, 2023 / Notices 

OEA does not recommend any additional 

environmental or historic mitigation. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25786 Filed 11–21–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

[Docket Number USTR–2023–0012; Dispute 

Number WT/DS617] 

WTO Dispute Settlement Proceeding 

Regarding a United States AntiDumping Measure on Oil Country 

Tubular Goods From Argentina 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Notice with request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Office of the United 

States Trade Representative (USTR) 

invites public comments concerning the 

issues raised in this World Trade 

Organization (WTO) dispute settlement 

proceeding regarding a United States 

anti-dumping measure on oil country 

tubular goods from Argentina. 

DATES: Although USTR will accept any 

comments submitted during the course 

of the dispute settlement proceedings, 

you should submit your comment on or 

before December 22, 2023, to be assured 

of timely consideration by USTR. 

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers 

electronic submissions made through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments in 

sections III and IV below. The Docket 

Number is USTR–2023–0012. For 

alternatives to on-line submissions, 

please contact Sandy McKinzy at (202) 

395–9483 in advance of the deadline. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Gagain, Senior Associate 

General Counsel, (202) 395–9529, or 

Matthew Jaffe, Senior Associate General 

Counsel, (202) 395–9512. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Section 127(b)(1) of the Uruguay 

Round Agreements Act (URAA) (19 

U.S.C. 3537(b)(1)) requires notice and 

opportunity for comment after the 

United States submits or receives a 

request for the establishment of a WTO 

dispute settlement panel. Accordingly, 

USTR is providing notice that Argentina 

has requested a dispute settlement panel 

pursuant to the WTO Understanding on 

Rules Procedures Governing the 

Settlement of Disputes (DSU). The panel 

established by the WTO will hold its 

meetings in Geneva Switzerland. 

II. Major Issues Raised by Argentina 

On May 17, 2023, Argentina requested 

consultations with the United States 

concerning the imposition of 

antidumping duties on oil country 

tubular goods from Argentina, following 

final determinations by the U.S. 

Department of Commerce (DOC) and 

U.S. International Trade Commission 

(ITC) in Oil Country Tubular Goods 

From Argentina: Final Affirmative 

Determination of Sales at Less Than 

Fair Value and Final Negative 

Determination of Critical Circumstances 

(DOC investigation number A–357–824), 

and Oil Country Tubular Goods From 

Argentina, Mexico, Russia, and South 

Korea (ITC investigation numbers 701– 

TA–671–672 and 731–TA–1571–1573), 

and section 771(7)(G) of the Tariff Act 

of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(7)(G)). The 

consultation request can be found at 

www.wto.org in a document designated 

as WT/DS617/1. The United States and 

Argentina held consultations on July 6, 

2023. On September 1, 2023, Argentina 

made its request to the WTO to establish 

a dispute settlement panel under the 

Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the 

World Trade Organization (WTO 

Agreement). That request may be found 

at www.wto.org in a document 

designated as WT/DS617/3. On October 

26, 2023, the WTO established a panel 

to examine Argentina’s complaint. 

Argentina’s panel request appears to 

be concerned with the DOC’s 

examination of whether there was 

sufficient domestic industry support to 

justify initiation of its investigation; the 

ITC’s cumulation analysis in its material 

injury investigation; aspects of the ITC’s 

analyses of volume and imports and 

price effects in its investigation; and 

aspects of the ITC’s analyses of injury 

and causation. Argentina claims that the 

imposition of duties is inconsistent with 

Article VI of the WTO General 

Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 

(GATT 1994); and Articles 1, 3.1, 3.2, 

3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 6.6, and 

18.1 of the WTO Agreement on 

Implementation of Article VI of the 

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 

1994 (Antidumping Agreement). 

Argentina further alleges that section 

771(7)(G) of the Tariff Act of 1930 is 

inconsistent with Articles 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 

3.4, and 3.5 of the Antidumping 

Agreement. 

III. Public Comments: Requirements for 

Submissions 

To be assured of consideration, 

submit your written comments by the 

December 22, 2023 deadline. All 

submissions must be in English. USTR 

strongly encourages submissions via 

Regulations.gov, using Docket Number 

USTR–2023–0012. 

To make a submission via 

Regulations.gov, enter Docket Number 

USTR–2023–0012 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. 

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. Contact the Regulations.gov 

help desk with technical questions on 

submitting comments at 

regulationshelpdesk@gsa.gov or 1–866– 

498–2945. 

If you are unable to provide 

submissions as requested, please contact 

Sandy McKinzy at (202) 395–9483 in 

advance of the deadline to arrange for 

an alternative method of transmission. 

USTR may not consider submissions 

that you do not make in accordance 

with these instructions. 

IV. Confidential Submissions 

If you ask USTR to treat information 

you submit as business confidential 

information (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 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 224 / Wednesday, November 22, 2023 / Notices 81527 

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.’ The ‘BCI’ and ‘P’ should be followed 

by the name of the person or entity 

submitting the comments. If this is not 

sufficient to protect BCI or otherwise 

protect business interests, please contact 

Sandy McKinzy at (202) 395–9483 in 

advance of the deadline to discuss 

whether alternative arrangements are 

possible. 

USTR may determine that information 

or advice contained in a comment, other 

than BCI, is confidential in accordance 

with section 135(g)(2) of the Trade Act 

of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2155(g)(2)). If a 

submitter believes that information or 

advice is confidential, they must clearly 

designate the information or advice as 

confidential and mark it as 

‘SUBMITTED IN CONFIDENCE’ at the 

top and bottom of the cover page and 

each succeeding page, and provide a 

non-confidential summary of the 

information or advice. 

V. Public Viewing of Comments 

Pursuant to section 127(e) of the 

URAA (19 U.S.C. 3537(e)), USTR will 

maintain a docket on this dispute 

settlement proceeding. USTR will post 

written submissions in the docket for 

public inspection, except properly 

designated BCI and other confidential 

information. You can view submissions 

at Regulations.gov by entering Docket 

Number USTR–2023–0012 in the search 

field on the home page. 

If a dispute settlement panel is 

convened, or in the event of an appeal 

from a panel, USTR will make the 

following documents publicly available 

at www.ustr.gov: the U.S. submissions 

and any non-confidential summaries of 

submissions received from other 

participants in the dispute. If a dispute 

settlement panel is convened, or in the 

event of an appeal from a panel, the 

report of the panel, and, if applicable, 

the report of the Appellate Body, will 

also be available on the website of the 

World Trade Organization, at 

www.wto.org. 

Juan Millan, 

Deputy General Counsel for Monitoring and 

Enforcement, Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25802 Filed 11–21–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3390–F4–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

[Docket Number USTR–2023–0013] 

Request for Comments and Notice of 

Public Hearing Concerning the 

Operation of the United States-MexicoCanada Agreement With Respect To 

Trade in Automotive Goods 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative (USTR). 

ACTION: Request for comments and 

notice of public hearing. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Trade 

Representative must conduct a review of 

trade in automotive goods under the 

United States-Mexico-Canada 

Agreement (USMCA) and submit a 

report to the Committee on Finance of 

the Senate and the Committee on Ways 

and Means of the House of 

Representatives no later than July 1, 

2024. USTR invites comments 

concerning the operation of the USMCA 

with respect to automotive goods, 

including the implementation and 

enforcement of the USMCA rules of 

origin for automotive goods, as well as 

whether the automotive provisions of 

the USMCA are effective in light of 

technological and production advances. 

DATES: January 17, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. 

EST: Deadline for submission of written 

comments, request to testify, and 

written testimony. 

February 7, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. EST: 

USTR and the Interagency Committee 

on Trade in Automotive Goods will 

convene a public hearing to receive oral 

testimony. 

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers 

electronic submissions made through 

the Federal rulemaking Portal: https://

www.regulations.gov/ (Regulations.gov). 

Follow the instructions for submitting 

written comments, testimony, and 

requests to testify in sections III through 

V below, using docket number USTR– 

2023–0013. For alternatives to on-line 

submissions, please contact Justin 

Hoffmann, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade 

Representative for Market Access and 

Industrial Competitiveness, in advance 

of the deadline at (202) 395–2990 or 

Justin.D.Hoffmann@ustr.eop.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Justin Hoffmann, Deputy Assistant U.S. 

Trade Representative for Market Access 

and Industrial Competitiveness at (202) 

395–2990 or Justin.D.Hoffmann@

ustr.eop.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. USMCA Background 

On January 29, 2020, the President 

signed into law the USMCA 

Implementation Act (Pub. L. 116–113), 

which implements the USMCA between 

the United States, the United Mexican 

States, and Canada attached as an 

Annex to the Protocol Replacing the 

North American Free Trade Agreement. 

The USMCA entered into force on July 

1, 2020. 

The USMCA includes new rules of 

origin to claim preferential treatment for 

automotive goods, including higher 

Regional Value Content (RVC) 

thresholds, mandatory requirements to 

produce core parts in the region, 

mandatory steel and aluminum 

purchasing requirements, and a Labor 

Value Content (LVC) requirement. The 

USMCA allows vehicle producers to 

request an alternative staging regime for 

these requirements that would permit a 

longer period of transition to help 

ensure that future production is able to 

meet the new rules. The standard 

staging regime is specified under the 

Automotive Appendix to Chapter 4 of 

the USMCA, with the exception of 

Article 8, which specifies provisions 

relating to the alternative staging 

regime. 

The USMCA Implementation Act and 

Executive Order 13908 established the 

Interagency Committee on Trade in 

Automotive Goods (Committee) to 

advise the President and the U.S. Trade 

Representative on the implementation, 

enforcement and modification of the 

USMCA provisions related to 

automotive goods. In addition, the 

Committee reviews the operation of the 

USMCA with respect to trade in 

automotive goods, including the 

economic effects of the USMCA 

automotive rules of origin on the U.S. 

economy, workers and consumers, and 

the impact of new technology on such 

rules. 

II. Report to Congress 

Section 202A(g) of the USMCA 

Implementation Act requires the U.S. 

Trade Representative, in consultation 

with the Committee, to conduct a 

biennial review of the operation of the 

USMCA with respect to trade in 

automotive goods, including: 

(a) To the extent practicable, a 

summary of actions taken by producers 

to demonstrate compliance with the 

automotive rules of origin, use of the 

alternative staging regime, enforcement 

of such rules of origin, and other 

relevant matters. 

(b) Whether the automotive rules of 

origin are effective and relevant in light 

of new technology and changes in 

content, production processes and 

character of automotive goods. 

USTR submitted its first report to 

Congress on June 30, 2022. No later than 


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