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6.14. (...) The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) advances Prosper Africa through its Global Procurement Initiative, which provides education to public officials in emerging markets on how to establish procurement practices and policies that integrate life-cycle cost analysis and best value determination in a fair, transparent manner. The GPI helps partner countries acquire high-quality, long-lasting technologies, while building smart, sustainable infrastructure with overall savings to their government.

6.16. (...) the Standards Alliance provides private sector technical assistance in the region on the biofuels, and water and sanitation sectors. (...)

8.1. Since the last U.S. Trade Policy Review, the United States made significant progress on a range of trade and environment matters in multiple fora, including through multilateral, regional and bilateral trade initiatives.

8.2. The USMCA Environment chapter (Chapter 24) includes the most comprehensive set of enforceable environmental obligations of any previous U.S. free trade agreement. These include commitments relating to harmful fisheries subsidies; wildlife trafficking; illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; the protection of marine species; marine litter; sustainable forest management; air quality; and public participation and environmental cooperation. Full implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of the USMCA Chapter 24 continues to be a key priority. In June 2021, the United States, with its Mexican and Canadian counterparts, organized the inaugural meeting of the trilateral Environment Committee during which the Parties provided updates on respective efforts to implement Chapter 24 commitments, including an in-depth discussion of cooperative law enforcement efforts to stem wildlife trafficking and trade in illegally harvested timber. The meeting also included a public session, which provided public stakeholders the opportunity to raise questions and comments to the Parties. In February 2022, the United States launched consultations with Mexico under the Environment Chapter Article 24.29.2 regarding Mexico's obligations to effectively enforce its fisheries-related laws, regulations, and other measures designed to prevent illegal fishing in the Upper Gulf of California, to prevent trafficking of protected species such as the totoaba fish, and to protect and conserve the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. Through these consultations United States is working closely with the Government of Mexico to strengthen Mexico's fisheries enforcement and ensure effective enforcement of USMCA environment commitments.

8.3. The United States has also continued to prioritize implementation of the FTAs currently in force. In particular, the United States continued to actively monitor and enforce the United States–Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) and its landmark Forest Annex. Following a 2018 verification exercise, the United States took action in July 2019, and again in October 2020, to block future timber imports from a Peruvian exporter based on illegally harvested timber found in its supply chain. In addition, the United States and Peru held regular bilateral discussions on the implementation of obligations under the Agreement's Environment Chapter and Forest Annex, including discussions related to the Secretariat for Submissions on Environmental Enforcement Matters (Secretariat) established in Article 18.8 of the Agreement. In September 2021, the United States and Peru undertook a process to select a new Executive Director of the Secretariat. The new Executive Director was selected in December 2021 and will serve a term of two years beginning in early 2022. The United States continued to engage closely with Peru to combat illegal logging and work toward improving forest sector governance. Keeping illegal timber out of the supply chain is a high priority as illegal logging damages the global environment and the natural resources we all depend on and is unfair to our workers and businesses.

8.4. On 1 October 2021, the United States and Viet Nam signed an agreement that addresses U.S. concerns in the Viet Nam Timber Section 301 investigation, which was initiated in October 2020. This was the first Section 301 investigation to address environmental concerns. The Agreement secured commitments that will help keep illegally harvested or traded timber out of the supply chain and protect the environment and natural resources. USTR determined that the Agreement provided a satisfactory resolution of the matter subject to investigation and that no trade action was warranted at that time. USTR is monitoring Viet Nam's implementation of the Agreement. Pursuant to the Agreement, bilateral engagement on this issue continues through the Timber Working Group under the United States-Viet Nam Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. The Timber Working Group was established to facilitate coordination between the parties and to oversee the implementation of the Agreement. The first meeting of the Timber Working Group was convened in April 2022.

8.5. Since the last TPR, the United States kept up substantial engagement with other FTA partners. In particular, the United States had senior-level meetings with officials from Central America and the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Israel, Republic of Korea, and Singapore to discuss implementation of, and monitor progress under, the environment chapters of the relevant FTAs, and to engage in discussions about global environmental challenges such as climate change adaptation and mitigation and use of trade tools to address such challenges. These engagements were also opportunities to review, and in some cases, update, the environmental cooperation work programs that help to support implementation of the environment chapters of U.S. FTAs. The United States also engaged with Trade and Investment Framework Agreement partners, notably Ecuador, Laos, Maldives, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, and Uruguay to consult on a wide range of issues related to trade and investment, including trade-related environmental issues such as wildlife trafficking and IUU fishing.

8.6. In APEC, the United States continued to work with other Asia-Pacific economies through the Experts Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade to improve the capacity of APEC customs officials to combat illegal logging and associated trade and promote the trade in legally harvested forest products within the APEC region. Within the Oceans and Fisheries Working Group, the United States supported implementation of the Port State Measures Agreement, and worked to identify areas of convergence and best practices to combat IUU fishing, including through APEC's Roadmap on Combating IUU Fishing. In addition, work continued on the U.S.-led Recyclable Materials Policy Program, which aims to develop the capacity of APEC economies to identify and frame domestic policies that promote solid waste management and recycling infrastructure. Through multilateral fora such as APEC and OECD, the United States is promoting circular economy approaches and discussing opportunities to decarbonize economies through trade tools. At the WTO, the United States is collaborating with trading partners to forge new partnerships to promote an environmentally sustainable trade agenda, and is working collaboratively through such initiatives as the WTO Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD), which the United States formally joined in November 2021. The United States submitted a discussion paper to the CTE and TESSD in May 2022 on the issues of climate change and circular economy.

8.7. The United States is also committed to combating wildlife trafficking and IUU fishing through a variety of means, including through U.S. FTAs, environmental cooperation mechanisms, and other trade-related initiatives. For example, the United States has consistently raised these areas for discussion and collaboration in meetings under the Environment Chapters of our FTAs and included them in recent environmental programs. Multiple U.S. government agencies continue to participate in implementing the Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt (END) Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016, with the objectives of supporting anti-poaching efforts on a global scale, strengthening the capacity of partner countries to combat wildlife trafficking, and designating major wildlife trafficking countries for further strategic collaboration with the United States. The United States also continues to be an active Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), including through participation in meetings of the CITES Animals, Plants, and Standing Committees, and the Conference of the Parties.

8.8. IUU fishing continues to be an important U.S. international policy priority in the areas of oceans governance and economic security. The Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement (SAFE) Act, which became law in December 2019, supports a "whole-of-government approach across the Federal Government to counter IUU fishing and related threats to maritime security" through a number of means including, inter alia: improving data sharing that enhances surveillance; advancing effective enforcement and prosecution against IUU fishing; increasing and improving global transparency and traceability across the seafood supply chain; responding to poor working conditions and labor abuses in the fishing industry; and preventing the use of IUU fishing as a financing source for transnational organized groups. To further interagency collaboration in this area, Part II of the Maritime SAFE Act called for the establishment of the Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing. The Working Group, which is comprised of 21 federal agencies, aims to employ a coordinated, cohesive, and regionally appropriate approach to combating IUU fishing and related threats to maritime security in "priority regions" and "priority flag states". On 27 June 2022, President Biden signed a National Security Memorandum (NSM) to address IUU fishing and related harmful practices. The NSM will increase coordination with diverse stakeholders – public and private, foreign and domestic. The United States will use the full range of existing conservation, labor, trade, economic, diplomatic, law enforcement, and national security authorities to address these challenges.