Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis visited the Bay Area on July 23 and 24 to discuss and solicit input on various Obama Administration trade initiatives in the Asia-Pacific, especially ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis, DAUSTR for Intellectual
Property Probir Mehta, and AUSTR for Public Engagement Christine Turner visit
Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA.
During that time, Ambassador Marantis met with key San Francisco and Silicon Valley based companies -- including Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Square -- where he discussed the importance of promoting innovation in the TPP, and highlighted USTR's new proposal on copyright exceptions such as fair use in the intellectual property chapter of TPP, e-commerce provisions, and other issues. Ambassador Marantis also discussed challenges in Asia-Pacific trade with the biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences and electric vehicle designer and manufacturer Tesla Motors.
Ambassador Marantis visits the Tesla Motors manufacturing facility in Fremont, CA.
While in San Francisco, Ambassador Marantis also joined Department of Commerce Under Secretary for International Trade Francisco Sánchez for a working lunch event organized by the Bay Area Council. There the two officials briefed local business leaders on recent developments in U.S. trade policy, including negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and U.S. trade and investment relations with China and India.
