The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced it is accepting through Jan. 12, 2015, comments on U.S. interests and priorities with respect to an initiative to invite Israel to join the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) negotiations.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is the United States government agency responsible for developing and recommending United States trade policy to the president of the United States, On July 8, 2014, the United States and thirteen other WTO members, accounting for 86% of global trade in environmental goods, launched negotiations on the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) in Geneva, Switzerland.
In addition to the United States, Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland and Chinese Taipei are participating in the negotiations.
The EGA aims to eliminate tariffs on environmental technologies such as wind turbines, water treatment filters, and solar water heaters. Tariffs on environmental goods can be high and pose a significant barrier to trade for U.S. companies. Trade in environmental goods is significant.
In 2012, global trade in environmental goods totaled nearly US$1tr annually and is expected to expand to as much as US$3tr annually by 2020. With some member states currently applying tariffs as high as 35% on these products, the potential impact of this initiative is considerable.
