AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN ON RECIPROCAL TRADE
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN ON RECIPROCAL TRADE
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AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN ON RECIPROCAL TRADE
Preamble
The United States of America (“United States”) and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (“Jordan”) (individually a “Party” and collectively “the Parties”),
EMPHASIZING their shared values, including democracy, economic freedom, and the rule of law;
RECOGNIZING the special bonds of friendship and cooperation between them, in particular in their trade and investment relations;
INTENDING to enhance reciprocity in their bilateral trade relationship by securing preferential trade arrangements and addressing tariff and non-tariff barriers;
SEEKING to strengthen their commercial relationship through increased alignment on national and regional economic security matters; and
DESIRING to supplement their rights and obligations under the Agreement between the United States of America and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area, done at Washington on October 24, 2000 (U.S. – Jordan FTA),
HAVE AGREED as follows:
Section 1. Tariffs and Quotas
Article 1.1: Tariffs
1. Jordan shall apply a rate of customs duty on an originating good of the United States as set out in the U.S. – Jordan FTA.
2. The United States shall apply tariff treatment for originating goods of Jordan as set out in Annex I of this Agreement.
Article 1.2: Quotas
Jordan shall not impose quotas on imports of originating goods of the United States except as the Parties otherwise agree.
Section 2. Non-Tariff Barriers and Related Matters
Article 2.1: Import Licensing
Jordan shall not apply import licensing[1] to U.S. originating goods in a manner that restricts the importation of such goods. Jordan shall ensure that any non-automatic import licensing that it applies is applied only to administer an underlying measure, and in a manner that is transparent, nondiscriminatory, and not unduly burdensome and that does not reduce the competitiveness of U.S. exports.
Article 2.2: Technical Regulations, Standards, and Conformity Assessment
1. Jordan shall allow U.S. originating goods that comply with applicable U.S. or international standards, U.S. technical regulations, or U.S. or international conformity assessment procedures to enter its territory without additional conformity assessment requirements. In doing so:
(a) Jordan shall accord to the conformity assessment bodies of the United States treatment no less favorable than that it accords to its own bodies.
(b) Jordan shall facilitate the acceptance of U.S. compliance procedures for goods which are not subject to third-party conformity assessment in the U.S. regulatory framework.[2]
2. Jordan shall ensure that technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures are applied in a non-discriminatory manner and do not operate as disguised restrictions on bilateral trade, and shall remove existing technical barriers to trade in areas that undermine reciprocity, including requirements for duplicative or unnecessary testing or conformity assessment requirements.
Article 2.3: Agriculture
1. The United States shall provide non-discriminatory or preferential market access for Jordanian agricultural goods as set forth in Annex I, and Jordan shall provide non-discriminatory or preferential market access for U.S. agricultural goods as set forth in the U.S. – Jordan FTA.
2. Jordan shall ensure that its sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures are science- and risk-based; based on relevant international standards, guidelines, and recommendations developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the World Organization for Animal Health, and the International Plant Protection Convention; and do not operate as disguised restrictions on bilateral trade. In this regard, Jordan shall remove unjustified SPS barriers in areas that undermine reciprocity.
3. Jordan shall not adopt or maintain non-scientific, discriminatory, or preferential measures that are incompatible with U.S. or international standards or otherwise disadvantage U.S. exports to Jordan, including as a result of entering into agreements or understandings with third countries.
Article 2.4: Geographical Indications
Jordan shall ensure transparency and fairness with respect to the protection or recognition of geographical indications, including pursuant to an international agreement. In cases where Jordan protects or recognizes a term that identifies a good as a geographical indication but where there is no given quality, reputation, or other characteristic of the good that is essentially attributable to its geographical origin, Jordan shall permit use of the term in connection with U.S. goods.
Article 2.5: Cheese and Meat Terms
Jordan shall not restrict U.S. market access due to the mere use of the individual cheese and meat terms listed in Annex II.
Article 2.6: Intellectual Property[3]
Jordan shall provide a robust standard of protection for intellectual property.[4] Jordan shall provide effective systems for civil, criminal, and border enforcement of intellectual property rights and shall ensure that such systems combat and deter the infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property, including in the online environment. Jordan shall prioritize and shall take effective criminal and border enforcement actions against copyright and trademark infringements.
Article 2.7: Services
Jordan shall address existing services trade barriers that undermine reciprocity. Jordan shall refrain from imposing new barriers that provide less favorable treatment to U.S. services suppliers than the treatment afforded to domestic services suppliers and services suppliers from any third country, jurisdiction, or economy.
Article 2.8: Good Regulatory Practices
Jordan shall adopt and implement good regulatory practices as set out in Article 1.12 of Annex III that ensure greater transparency, predictability, and participation throughout the regulatory lifecycle.
Article 2.9: Labor
1. Jordan recognizes the importance of eliminating all forms of forced or compulsory labor and affirms its obligations as a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and pursuant to the relevant ILO instruments to which it is a Party. Accordingly, Jordan shall, within five years of entry into force of this agreement, prohibit the importation of goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced or compulsory labor. Further to this obligation, Jordan shall recognize U.S. government determinations on entities under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and shall presumptively prohibit importation of goods from those companies.
2. Jordan shall protect internationally recognized labor rights.[5] This includes by adopting or maintaining such rights in its law and practice, and effectively enforcing its labor laws, including by creating or maintaining necessary institutions to protect labor rights. Jordan shall establish and effectively apply appropriate legal sanctions for violations of those laws. Jordan shall not weaken or reduce the protections in its labor laws and shall address any such weakening or reduction that has been made to encourage trade or investment to date.[6] In addition, Jordan shall address issues related to labor rights that contribute to non-reciprocal trade.
Article 2.10: Environment
Jordan shall adopt and maintain environmental protections, effectively enforce its environmental laws, uphold or institute as necessary strong environmental governance structures, and address environment-related issues that contribute to non-reciprocal trade.
Article 2.11: Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation
Jordan shall maintain or implement technology solutions, within five years of entry into force of this Agreement, that allow for full pre-arrival processing, paperless trade, and digitalized procedures for the movement of goods of the United States across its borders.
Section 3. Digital Trade and Technology
Article 3.1: Digital Services Tax
Jordan shall not impose digital services taxes, or similar taxes, that discriminate against U.S. companies in law or in fact.
Article 3.2: Facilitation of Digital Trade
1. Jordan shall facilitate digital trade with the United States, including by refraining from measures that discriminate against U.S. digital services or U.S. digital products,[7] ensuring the free transfer of data across trusted borders for the conduct of business, and collaborating with the United States to address cybersecurity challenges.
2. If Jordan enters into a new digital trade agreement[8] with a country that jeopardizes essential U.S. interests, the United States may terminate this Agreement.
3. Jordan shall not impose any condition or enforce any undertaking requiring U.S. persons to transfer or provide access to a particular technology, production process, source code, or other proprietary knowledge, or to purchase, utilize, or accord a preference to a particular technology, as a condition for doing business in its territory. This paragraph does not preclude a regulatory body or judicial authority of a Party from requiring a person of another Party to preserve and make available the source code of software, or an algorithm expressed in that source code, to the regulatory body for a specific investigation, inspection, examination, enforcement action, or judicial proceeding, subject to safeguards against unauthorized disclosure.
Article 3.3: Customs Duties on Electronic Transmissions
Jordan shall not impose customs duties on electronic transmissions, including content transmitted electronically, and shall support multilateral adoption of a permanent moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions at the WTO immediately and without conditions.
Section 4. Economic and National Security
Article 4.1: Complementary Actions
1. When the United States imposes a customs duty, quota, prohibition, fee, charge or other import restriction on a good or service of a third country pursuant to relevant domestic law and considers that such measures are relevant to protecting the economic or national security of the United States, the United States intends to notify such measures to Jordan for the purpose of economic security alignment. Upon receiving such notification, and after consulting with the United States, Jordan shall regulate, consistent with its domestic law and international rights and obligations, the importation of that good or service into its territory through appropriate measures, as decided by Jordan.
2. After consultations with the United States, Jordan shall adopt and implement measures, consistent with its domestic law and international obligations, to address unfair practices of companies operating in Jordan, where such companies are based in a country that jeopardizes essential U.S. interests or are directly or indirectly owned or controlled by a company based in a country that jeopardizes essential U.S. interests, that result in (1) the export of below-market price goods to the United States; (2) increased exports of such goods to the United States; (3) a reduction in U.S. exports to Jordan; or (4) a reduction in U.S. exports to third-country markets.
3. Jordan shall adopt similar measures, of equivalent restrictive effect, to those of the United States to encourage shipbuilding and shipping by market economy countries.
Article 4.2: Export Controls, Sanctions, Investment Security, and Related Matters
1. Jordan shall cooperate with the United States to regulate the trade in national security-sensitive technologies and goods through existing multilateral export control regimes, align with all unilateral export controls in force by the United States, and ensure that its companies do not backfill or undermine these controls.
2. Jordan shall cooperate with the United States with a view to restricting transactions of its nationals with individuals and entities included on the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List (Supplement 4 of Part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations), as well as the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control Lists of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) and the Non-SDN Consolidated Sanctions Lists.
3. Jordan shall cooperate with the United States on matters related to investment security and shall take steps to identify, review, and address national security risks to Jordan related to investment and procurement activity in specific sensitive sectors in its territory, including exploring the establishment of a mechanism to review inbound investment for national security risks.
4. If the United States determines that Jordan is cooperating to address shared national and economic security issues, the United States may take such cooperation into account in administering its laws and regulations pertaining to export controls, investment reviews, and other measures.
Article 4.3: Other Measures
1. The United States shall work with Jordan to streamline and enhance defense trade.
2. Jordan shall adopt and effectively enforce provisions to combat transshipment and other practices to evade or circumvent duties, and other measures applied by the United States.
3. If Jordan enters into a new bilateral free trade agreement or preferential economic agreement with a country that jeopardizes essential U.S. interests, the United States may terminate this Agreement.
4. Jordan shall not agree to new purchases of any nuclear reactors, fuel rods, or enriched uranium from a country that jeopardizes essential U.S. interests. The Parties may cooperate, as appropriate, to identify alternative sources to purchase these goods.
Section 5. Commercial Considerations and Opportunities
Article 5.1: Investment
1. Jordan shall allow and facilitate U.S. investment in its territory to explore, mine, extract, refine, process, transport, distribute and export critical minerals and energy resources and to provide power generation, telecommunication, transportation, and infrastructure services on terms no less favorable than it accords to its own investors in like circumstances and shall regulate those investments in keeping with minimum standards of international law.
2. The United States shall work through its U.S. institutions such as the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), if eligible, to consider supporting investment financing in critical sectors in Jordan in collaboration with U.S. private sector partners, consistent with applicable law.
Article 5.2: Commercial Considerations
1. Jordan shall ensure that its state-owned or controlled enterprises (SOEs), and SOEs of third countries operating in its market, when engaging in commercial activities: (a) act in accordance with commercial considerations in their purchase or sale of goods or services; and (b) refrain from discriminating against U.S. goods or services. Jordan shall refrain from subsidizing its goods-producing SOEs in a manner that significantly impacts trade with the United States.
2. Upon the written request of the United States, Jordan shall provide information regarding all forms of subsidies that it provides to a manufacturing enterprise in its territory and shall take action to address the distortive impacts of those subsidies and support mechanisms on trade and investment with the United States.
3. Jordan shall expand cooperation and exchange information with the United States, as appropriate, related to U.S. and Jordanian antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings, including circumvention inquiries.
4. Jordan shall eliminate the special tax on newly manufactured, unused U.S. produced motor vehicles that meet the rules of origin established in the U.S. – Jordan FTA and are exported directly from the United States.
5. To the extent consistent with reducing the U.S. trade deficit with Jordan, the United States should encourage U.S. firms, including their subsidiaries, to invest in Jordan with an aim to expanding their export capabilities to regional and international markets, leveraging Jordan as a hub for production and export, and enhancing their global competitiveness and supply chain efficiency, in order to capitalize on Jordan’s favorable business climate, highly competitive production costs, and skilled labor pool.
Section 6. Implementation and Enforcement
Article 6.1: Annexes, Appendices, and Footnotes
The annexes, appendices, schedules, general notes, and footnotes to this Agreement constitute an integral part of this Agreement.
Article 6.2: Modifications and Amendments
1. Each Party may request reasonable modifications to any provision of this Agreement, which the other Party shall consider in good faith and accept if such modifications do not harm that Party’s interest or otherwise undermine the benefits of this Agreement or other agreements between the Parties. The Parties may agree, in writing, to amend this Agreement.
2. The Parties recognize that the purpose of this Agreement is to deepen the bilateral trade relationship based on mutual trust and a shared commitment to fair and reciprocal trade. On the request of either Party, the Parties will consult with a view to considering any changes that may need to be made to this Agreement to ensure that it remains mutually beneficial.
Article 6.3: Rules of Origin
The Parties intend for the benefits of this Agreement to accrue substantially to them and their nationals. If benefits of this Agreement are accruing substantially to third countries or third-country nationals, a Party may establish rules of origin necessary to achieve the Parties’ intention for this Agreement.
Article 6.4: Enforcement and Implementation
1. If either Party considers that the other Party has not complied with a provision of this Agreement, that Party may review the terms of the Agreement and take action in accordance with its law. Prior to taking an action under this paragraph, a Party shall, when practicable, seek consultations with the other Party.
2. Nothing in this Agreement shall constrain, or otherwise prevent, a Party from imposing additional tariffs to remedy unfair trade practices, to address import surges, to protect its economic or national security, or to achieve another objective consistent with that Party’s law.
Article 6.5: Termination
Either Party may terminate this Agreement by providing written notice of termination to the other Party. Termination shall take effect six months after the date of such notification.
Article 6.6: Entry into Force
1. No term of this Agreement shall be operative until entry into force of this Agreement.
2. This Agreement shall enter into force 60 days after the date on which the Parties have notified each other in writing of the completion of their respective applicable internal procedures required for the entry into force of this Agreement.
[1] For greater certainty, “import licensing”, “automatic import licensing”, and “non-automatic import licensing” have the same meanings as provided in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures.
[2] This paragraph does not apply to Jordan’s requirements regarding voltage or compliance with domestic requirements implementing Sharia law.
[3] For purposes of this Agreement, “intellectual property” refers to all categories of intellectual property that are the subject of Sections 1 through 7 of Part II of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
[4] For purposes of this Agreement, the protection of intellectual property includes matters related to technological protection measures and rights management information.
[5] For purposes of this Agreement, internationally recognized labor rights include those in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-Up (1998), as amended in 2022; a prohibition on the worst forms of child labor; and acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages and hours of work.
[6] For greater certainty, this paragraph covers special economic zones, including export processing zones, or sector-specific laws or regulations that have lesser labor protections than the overall economy.
[7] For purposes of this Agreement, digital product means a computer program, text, video, image, sound recording, or other product that is digitally encoded, produced for commercial sale or distribution, and that can be transmitted electronically. For greater certainty, digital product does not include a digitized representation of a financial instrument, including money. This definition should not be understood to reflect a Party’s view that digital products are a good or are a service.
[8] For greater certainty, for purposes of this paragraph a “digital trade agreement” does not include government procurement contracts.