Priority Foreign Country

Priority foreign country in Global Commerce Policy

In this regard, a definition of this issue is as follows: this is a term used in sections 1302 and 1303 of the United States Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. These two sections are usually known as Super 301 and Special 301, respectively. Super 301 requires USTR to inform Congress of priority foreign countries maintaining practices which, if eliminated, would have the greatest potential for increasing United States exports. Special 301 requires a similar list of countries, known as the priority watch list, that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights to United States firms. The entries on trade policy are here. In this case, priority foreign countries are countries that have (a) the most onerous or egregious acts, policies or practices that deny adequate and effective intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property protection, and (b) that are not prepared to enter into bilateral or multilateral negotiations to find remedies. The entries on trade policy in the Encyclopedia are here. Once a country has been identified as a priority foreign country, USTR must start a Section 301 investigation. Countries may be deleted from the list, but USTR must give reasons for doing so.[1]

Priority foreign countryin the wold Encyclopedia

For an introductory overview on international trade policy, see this entry.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Dictionary of Trade Policy, “Priority foreign country” entry (OAS)

See Also