Dennis Shea U.S. Ambassador to the WTO arrives for the General Council meeting at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland, July 26, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deputy US Trade Representative Dennis Shea will represent the United States at a Group of 20 trade ministers meeting in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on Friday, the USTR office said on Wednesday.

Shea, who serves as the U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, “will promote President (Donald) Trump’s priorities for free, fair and reciprocal trade, particularly the need to address non-market oriented policies,” USTR said in a statement.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer met with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday for negotiations toward a new North American Free Trade Agreement. Shea’s attendance at the G20 meeting would likely free up Lighthizer for further talks this week in Washington if they are scheduled.

A USTR spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment on whether additional ministerial-level NAFTA talks would be held on Thursday or Friday.

The USTR office said Shea will also hold several bilateral meetings with key trading partners, but did not specify those countries.

The G20 includes the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United States. </s> OTTAWA — Canada’s new international trade minister is taking a pass on a meeting with his G20 counterparts in Argentina on Friday.

Jim Carr was shuffled into the trade portfolio with the main purpose of diversifying Canada’s economic relations with countries other than the United States, its largest trading partner.

The G20 also includes China, India and Brazil — countries that Canada is keen to expand economic ties with.

Carr’s spokesman says the minister will be attending an event in his home province of Manitoba on Friday, and that Canada will be represented at the G20 meeting by the Canada’s deputy minister for international trade.

Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative, will also be replaced by a deputy at the gathering of G20 trade ministers, fuelling speculation he might be holding his schedule open for a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, his political counterpart in the ongoing renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Canadian and American negotiators were continuing their talks today after Freeland’s latest visit to Washington on Tuesday.

Freeland briefed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the state of the NAFTA talks at the Liberal caucus retreat in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

Afterwards, she said lead negotiator Steve Verheul and David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, would return to Washington to resume negotiations today.

The G20 leaders’ summit is set for later this fall in Buenos Aires. </s> JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's trade and industry minister Rob Davies will attend a meeting with peers from the G20 global grouping in Argentina set to focus on the agriculture sector, his department said on Tuesday.

The meeting will take place from 30 November 2018 – 1 December 2018.

It will be held in 2018 in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It will be the first-ever G20 summit to be hosted in South America.

The G20 or Group of Twenty is an international forum for the governments of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States which aims to discuss policy to promote international financial stability.

"The trade ministers meeting will focus on key factors for G20 policy making to support participation and upgrading in inclusive global value chains in the agricultural sector at regional and global level," the department of trade and industry said.

"It will also provide a platform for an exchange of experiences on how G20 countries can address the challenges associated with disruptive changes presented by the new industrial revolution ... and leverage the opportunities in order to advance inclusive growth."

Davies said the meeting was taking place amid unprecedented challenges for the multilateral trading system, with the rise of trade measures that were not compatible with the World Trade Organisation posing a concern.

"The G20 trade ministers meeting will provide an opportunity for a dialogue on current developments in international trade and its implications for the global economy," he said. </s> OTTAWA — Canada's new international trade minister is taking a pass on a meeting with his G20 counterparts in Argentina on Friday.

Jim Carr was shuffled into the trade portfolio with the main purpose of diversifying Canada's economic relations with countries other than the United States, its largest trading partner.

The G20 also includes China, India and Brazil — countries that Canada is keen to expand economic ties with.

Carr's spokesman says the minister will be attending an event in his home province of Manitoba on Friday, and that Canada will be represented at the G20 meeting by the Canada's deputy minister for international trade. </s> Tuesday morning, President-elect Donald Trump announced the nomination of Ambassador Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative, one of the final four Cabinet-level positions he will need to fill to complete his administration.

Lighthizer served as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative under President Ronald Reagan, and played a leading role in developing trade policy by negotiating roughly two dozen bilateral international agreements on a variety of topics from steel to grain. The emphasis under President-elect Trump will be to repeat his success in the 1980s by significantly reducing the shipment of "unfairly traded" imports into the United States.

"Ambassador Lighthizer is going to do an outstanding job representing the United States as we fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first," the president-elect said. "He has extensive experience striking agreements that protect some of the most important sectors of our economy, and has repeatedly fought in the private sector to prevent bad deals from hurting Americans. He will do an amazing job helping turn around the failed trade policies which have robbed so many Americans of prosperity."

The Presidential Transition Team issued the following statement about Lighthizer:

In his new role, Ambassador Lighthizer will work in close coordination with Secretary of Commerce-designate Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro, head of the newly created White House National Trade Council, to develop and implement policies that shrink our trade deficit, expand economic growth, strengthen our manufacturing base and help stop the exodus of jobs from our shores.

Ambassador Lighthizer has long been a leader in U.S. trade policy, and has extensive experience in the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the private sector. Aside from his service in the Reagan administration, he was Chief of Staff of the United States Senate Committee of Finance when Congress passed the Reagan program of tax cuts and spending reductions, and also aided in the passage of legislation which implemented the Tokyo Round of trade negotiations. He has also represented the United States at meetings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and meetings related to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the precursor to the World Trade Organization).

Ambassador Lighthizer headed up the international trade law practice at Skadden, Arps Slate, Meagher and Flom for over three decades. He has represented American manufacturers in many of the largest and most significant trade cases of the last 25 years, such as the steel safeguard case of the early 2000s—the last time any president granted global safeguard relief. He has worked on scores of successful cases that resulted in reducing unfair imports and helping thousands of American workers and numerous businesses.

Ambassador Lighthizer has also been an outspoken commentator on trade issues, giving speeches and writing articles for the New York Times and other publications, as well as providing testimony to key Congressional committees, the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission, and other government agencies with responsibility for trade policy. He graduated from Georgetown University and the Georgetown University Law Center.

"It is a very high honor to represent our nation and to serve in President-elect Trump's administration as the U.S. Trade Representative," Lighthizer said. "I am fully committed to President-elect Trump's mission to level the playing field for American workers and forge better trade policies which will benefit all Americans."

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Has God called you to be a leader? Ministry Today magazine is the source that Christian leaders who want to serve with passion and purpose turn to. Subscribe now and receive a free leadership book. </s> Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong will meet representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama in Seoul on Wendsday to sign five separate bilateral agreements which will eliminate duties on about 95 percent of traded goods and services, South Korea's trade ministry said in an e-mailed statement. </s> SEOUL, Feb 21 (Reuters) - South Korea said on Wednesday it will sign free trade agreements with five Central American nations that will boost market access for South Korean automotive and electronics sectors.

Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong will meet representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama in Seoul on Wendsday to sign five separate bilateral agreements which will eliminate duties on about 95 percent of traded goods and services, South Korea’s trade ministry said in an e-mailed statement. </s> President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Robert Lighthizer, a lawyer and former trade official during the Reagan administration, as his nominee for U.S. trade representative.

Lighthizer was deputy U.S. trade representative during the Reagan administration. He is a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom.

“Ambassador Lighthizer is going to do an outstanding job representing the United States as we fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first,” Trump said in a statement.

The office of U.S. trade representative, created in 1962, is typically the government’s chief negotiator for trade deals and disputes.

The top job requires Senate confirmation. Under Trump, it is not expected to have as much power as it has in the past, several sources have told CNN.

Instead, the incoming administration aims to give the Commerce Department a bigger role on trade policy and negotiations, according to the sources. Trump has tapped billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as Commerce secretary.

Trump also added a wrinkle to the issue of trade policy when he named economist Peter Navarro to lead the newly created White House Trade Council.

The current trade rep, Michael Froman, was the Obama administration’s lead negotiator on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal that Trump has said he will withdraw from. </s> “I am delighted to have hosted Ambassador Gerrish on his first visit to the UK since taking up his post. During our productive meeting, we reaffirmed our shared ambition to boost the trade relationship between the UK and US, which is already worth around £165 billion a year.

“The Chequers proposals give us the flexibility to negotiate free trade agreements after we leave the European Union, and the Government’s current public consultations on future FTAs, including with the US, are critical to our preparations.

“Our joint Trade and Investment Working Group has made good progress in laying the groundwork for such a negotiation and helping our businesses grow their exports, including through our joint SME dialogue and published toolkits. To maintain this positive momentum, we agreed the third SME dialogue will take place in New York in November and the working group will reconvene in Washington DC soon afterwards.

“We also discussed wider global trade challenges and the on-going U.S.-EU trade discussions. I expressed UK support for progress in these discussions, including finding resolutions to existing U.S.-EU trade disagreements, such as steel and aluminium tariffs.”

“It was a pleasure meeting with Minister George Hollingbery today at the UK’s Department for International Trade. We had a productive meeting, discussing a range of U.S.-UK trade issues.

“The U.S.-UK trade and investment relationship is already substantial. We have two-way trade in goods and services of over $230 billion annually, with each of us being the other’s largest single supplier of services and a top supplier of goods. We are also both each other’s largest source of foreign investment with nearly $1.3 trillion invested in each other’s economies.

“Of course, we hope to further deepen and expand this beneficial relationship – both now and following Brexit.

“We reviewed the progress made so far through our U.S.-UK Trade and Investment Working Group, which has met four times since it was established by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and UK Secretary of State Liam Fox last year. In November, the United States will host the UK delegation in Washington for the fifth meeting of the Working Group, as well as host the third meeting of the U.S.-UK Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) Dialogue in New York.

“We also discussed our broader trade relationship, including on-going discussions with the EU on reducing barriers to U.S.-EU trade and addressing the challenges faced by both our economies due to non-market-oriented policies and unfair trade practices of third countries.”
Deputy US Trade Representative Dennis Shea will represent the United States at the Group of 20 trade ministerial meeting in Argentina.