The only difference in the VE (Value Edition) is the update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which is installed ex works.

Yes you can use an U.S. SIM-Card with this phone. However the phone is Region locked. This means that you would have to either call or receive an incoming call on this phone with a local SIM-Card. The call needs to have a duration of 5 minutes for the Region Lock to unlock itself. After this you can use any SIM-Card worldwide.