	Background

		International Trade Agreements with the United States

The United States is a party to a variety of international trade  agreements, including WTO agreements, FTAs, bilateral investment  treaties, and trade and investment framework agreements. Most of these  agreements also include chapters that address workers’ rights and the  environment and provide cooperation mechanisms through which the  United States provides trade capacity-building assistance to help partner  countries meet their obligations under these agreements. U.S. Agencies Involved in Enforcement and Monitoring of Trade Agreements

USTR, which is part of the Executive Office of the President, and several  other U.S. government agencies have responsibility for monitoring and  enforcing trade agreements. Trade Enforcement Trust Fund Established by Congress

The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 established a  “Trade Enforcement Trust Fund” from which USTR or other federal  agencies can receive funding to monitor and enforce WTO agreements  and FTAs and also to support trade capacity-building assistance to help  partner countries meet their FTA obligations and commitments. Information Is Not Available to Definitively Determine Resources Expended for Monitoring and Enforcing Trade Agreements

Eleven offices or bureaus within six U.S. federal agencies told us that  they had staff that worked on monitoring and enforcement of trade  agreements in fiscal year 2016. However, none of the agencies routinely tracks staff time  at a level of detail that distinguishes time specifically dedicated to trade  agreement monitoring and enforcement from time spent on these other  responsibilities. Table 4 shows the agencies’ estimates of  FTEs and the associated salary and benefit costs for efforts to monitor  and enforce trade agreements in fiscal year 2016. The estimates suggest  that in fiscal year 2016, 11 agency offices and bureaus dedicated over  700 FTEs and over $100 million to monitoring and enforcing trade  agreements. However, these totals and the underlying estimates do not fully include all  costs related to trade monitoring and enforcement and, for some  agencies, may not represent all staff who were involved in such activities. The total funding for these  projects was about $256 million. Trade capacity-building projects active in fiscal year 2016 supported  activities in 14 countries that were parties to the following 9 of the 14 U.S.  FTAs:  Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR)
United States – Chile Free Trade Agreement
United States – Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement
Agreement between the United States of America and the Hashemite  Kingdom of Jordan on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area
United States – Morocco Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (Mexico only)
Agreement between the Government of the United States of America  and the Government of the Sultanate of Oman on the Establishment  of Free Trade Area
Panama Free Trade Agreement
United States – Peru Trade Promotion Agreement  The most active trade capacity-building projects during fiscal year 2016— 34 active projects— occurred in CAFTA-DR countries, while the fewest— 3 active projects—occurred in Mexico. Labor and environmental projects covered a wide range of issues within  FTA partner countries. According to agency officials, some of the trade capacity-building projects  included goals to assist FTA partner countries in meeting their FTA  obligations in addition to other goals. GAO staff who made key contributions to this  report are listed in appendix II. Because none of the relevant agencies routinely tracks staff resources  and funding specifically for monitoring and enforcement of trade  agreements, these agencies had to develop estimates of their fiscal year  2016 full-time equivalents (FTE) and funding used for these activities in  response to our request for information. To identify U.S. trade capacity-building assistance projects to help partner  countries meet their obligations under FTAs, we collected available  information on relevant trade capacity-building projects that were active in  2016.
Why GAO Did This Study

Monitoring and enforcing trade agreements is a key element of the U.S. government's efforts to boost exports of U.S. goods and services. The vast majority of U.S. exports, which totaled $2.26 trillion in 2015, are covered by at least one trade agreement to which the United States is a party. These agreements include multilateral World Trade Organization agreements and bilateral or regional FTAs with 20 countries. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and several other federal agencies share responsibility for monitoring and enforcing partner countries' compliance with trade agreements. The U.S. government also provides trade capacity-building assistance, which includes goals to help partner countries meet their obligations under trade agreements.
The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, Public Law 114-25, includes a provision for GAO to examine federal agencies' resources to monitor and enforce international trade agreements. This report (1) examines agencies' resources and activities for monitoring and enforcing international trade agreements in fiscal year 2016 and (2) identifies agencies' trade capacity-building projects, active in fiscal year 2016, to assist FTA partner countries in meeting their obligations under these agreements. GAO reviewed agency documents, interviewed agency officials, and analyzed agencies' estimates of resources used to monitor and enforce trade agreements.
GAO is making no recommendations in this report.

What GAO Found

Eleven U.S. agency offices and bureaus have responsibilities for monitoring and enforcing international trade agreements; however, they do not have information that allows for a definitive count of the staff resources and related funding used to carry out these responsibilities. This is because many of the staff who conduct trade monitoring and enforcement activities at these agencies do so as part of a broader portfolio of activities, and none of the agencies routinely tracks staff time at this level of detail. In response to GAO's request for information, the 11 offices and bureaus used a variety of methods to develop estimates of the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff they believe worked on trade monitoring and enforcement activities in 2016 and the approximate costs associated with salaries and benefits for these FTEs. The estimates suggest that in fiscal year 2016, these 11 offices and bureaus dedicated over 700 FTEs at a cost of more than $100 million to monitor and enforce trade agreements. However, the estimates do not fully include all related costs (such as overhead costs) and, in some cases, may not represent all staff who conducted trade monitoring and enforcement activities.
U.S. agencies provide trade capacity-building assistance to help partner countries meet their obligations under free trade agreements (FTA) with the United States, such as their labor and environmental commitments. In fiscal year 2016, U.S. agencies oversaw 80 trade capacity-building projects intended to help partner countries meet their obligations as parties to FTAs. These projects, many of which spanned multiple years, amounted to about $256 million in obligated and planned funding. About 80 percent of project funding was related to helping partner countries comply with labor or environmental commitments.