WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – A U.S. think tank on Tuesday
recommended Congress suspend trade benefits for India, in the
latest sign of U.S. frustration over Indian policies that block
American exports and “free ride” on costly U.S. research to
develop new medicines and other forms of valuable intellectual
property.

“The United States should not sit idly by as the Indian
government enacts regulations that harm American industry and
jobs,” Stephen Ezell, senior analyst at the Information
Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), said in a paper.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday said a proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and United States should cover all sectors, drawing a contrast with France, which wants to leave out sensitive cultural industries.

“To realize the huge benefits this deal could bring will take ambition and political will. That means everything on the table, even the difficult issues, and no exceptions,” Cameron said at a White House news conference with President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican lawmakers called on Sunday for a broad investigation of the tax agency’s acknowledgement that its agents had singled out conservative political groups for more scrutiny, and demanded that President Barack Obama make clear the action was unacceptable.

“This is something we cannot let stand. It needs to have a full investigation,” House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An agreement to extend U.S. customs pre-clearance operations to Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates has drawn questions and criticism from nearly a dozen senators.

Pre-clearance allows U.S.-bound passengers to get advance approval to enter the United States from locations in airports outside the country.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – European Union officials on Thursday touted the huge economic potential of a proposed free trade pact with the United States even as they poked fun at its cumbersome name, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

“We’ve launched this strange animal called TTIP (‘tee tip’),” EU Ambassador to the United States João Vale de Almeida said at a reception to mark Europe Day. “This is a game-changer. As I like to say, this is the mother of all free trade areas.”

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) – Senate Banking Committee
Chairman Tim Johnson on Tuesday warned the U.S. Export-Import
Bank could be forced to stop operations in two months unless the
Senate quickly approves the nomination of Fred Hochberg as
president of the government-run bank.

“If we do not again confirm Mr. Hochberg before July 20, we
run the risk of leaving the bank without a quorum to act on many
of the transactions before it, which will hurt American workers
and exporters,” Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, said at a
hearing on the nomination.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A new report on Monday credited imports with supporting 16 million U.S. jobs in a bid by business groups to improve the image of the ugly brother of trade.

While politicians from President Barack Obama on down love to tout the job-creating benefits of exports, they spend much less time praising imports, which many Americans associate with shuttered factories and the move of jobs overseas.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Thursday will name top international economic affairs adviser Mike Froman as his choice to be U.S. trade representative, a White House official said, handing the job to a long-time friend who has played a big role in shaping trade policy for the past four years.

Froman, if confirmed by the Senate, will take the reins as the top U.S. trade ambassador in time to oversee the expected completion of a landmark free-trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact between the United States, Japan and 10 other countries.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Thursday will name top international economic affairs adviser Mike Froman as his choice to be U.S. trade representative, a White House official said, handing the job to a long-time friend who has played a big role in shaping trade policy for the past four years.

Froman, if confirmed by the Senate, will take the reins as the top U.S. trade ambassador in time to oversee the expected completion of a landmark free-trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact between the United States, Japan and 10 other countries.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Trade Representative’s office on Wednesday pinned a badge of shame on Ukraine for failing to protect U.S. copyrights, starting a process that could lead to revocation of U.S. trade benefits for the country.

USTR designated Ukraine a “foreign priority country,” the worst label in its annual report on how well countries around the world protect U.S. patents, copyrights and other forms of intellectual property rights.