The International Trade Administration will lead a delegation of U.S. companies to participate in a Renewable Energy Policy Business Roundtable Dec. 3 in Tokyo. The Department of Energy will chair the round table, the ITA said. Following the roundtable, the delegation will travel to northeast Japan for site visits to learn firsthand the current condition of reconstruction after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the role of renewable energy in those efforts. According to the ITA, Japan’s decision to phase out nuclear power creates business opportunities for U.S. clean energy companies. Participants must register online no later than Oct. 31. Applications will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.
The International Trade Administration launched an “Environmental Solutions Exporter Portal” Oct. 1 on its export.gov website. The portal is the first fruit of the U.S. Environmental Export Initiative, a cooperative effort between the ITA, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Trade Representative, and Department of Agriculture. “Our private sector partners have told us they need one place where they can go to find information on federal programs that support U.S. environmental exports,” said ITA Under Secretary Francisco Sanchez. “This Portal now provides that resource.”
The U.S. export control regime places companies at a “serious disadvantage” in the international nuclear energy export market, said the Nuclear Energy Institute in a report on nuclear export challenges. The report compared nuclear energy trade regimes in five leading supplier regimes with the U.S. export control regime. “Compared to the nuclear export control regimes of Russia, Japan, ROK and France, the U.S. regime is, in many respects, more complex, restrictive and time-consuming to navigate and fulfill,” the report said.
A supervisory CBP officer pleaded guilty Sept. 28 to impersonating a Customs attaché and making false statements related to his assignment with the CBP preclearance office in Dublin, Ireland, the Department of Justice said. Roger J. Kiley, 42, of Miami, faces up to three years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a year of supervised release for the charge of false personation. He faces five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release for the false statement charge. Kiley is also responsible for restitution in the amount of $2,500.
A Florida man faces federal charges for operating an illicit pharmaceutical scheme out of his home that imported and sold more than $7 million of unapproved and misbranded oncology drugs at a substantial discount to doctors in the U.S. through a San Diego pharmacy, said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Martin Paul Bean III, 62, of Boca Raton, Fla., was arraigned Friday on a 35-count federal indictment for conspiracy to import unapproved, misbranded oncology drugs from foreign countries, including Turkey, Pakistan and India. According to court documents, from 2005 to 2011, the drugs were shipped in bulk to GlobalRXStore in San Diego and distributed to doctors throughout the U.S.
Mexico's Diario Oficial of Oct. 1, lists notices from the Secretary of the Economy as follows:
The World Trade Organization established a panel to settle China’s challenge of U.S. countervailing duties on 22 products (DS437) at a Dispute Settlement Body meeting on Sept. 28. China, which originally requested consultations on May 25, is challenging International Trade Administration determinations of state ownership and control, treatment of Chinese export restraints as subsidies, and the application of Adverse Facts Available. According to the WTO, China said it recognizes WTO members’ legitimate rights to adopt trade remedy measures but such rights must be exercised in accordance with WTO rules and not be subject to any form of abuse. At the same meeting, China rejected a U.S. request for formation of a panel in its challenge of Chinese countervailing duties on U.S. automobiles.
Laos is set to join the World Trade Organization after the 66-member WTO’s Laos Accession Working Party formally agreed to its terms of membership Sept. 28. The package will now go to the full WTO general council for a vote Oct. 26. If the terms of membership approved, Laos will become the a WTO member 30 days after its National Assembly ratifies the package. “Lao PDR’s WTO accession is a strong, positive and clear signal for its commitment to engaging with the global economy in the framework of the rules-based trading system,” said Chinese ambassador Yi Zhaozhun, who chairs the working group.
Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) imports in 2011 had a negligible overall effect on the U.S. economy and consumers, and future impact is expected to remain minimal, said the International Trade Commission in a report on ATPA. A lapse in ATPA benefits in 2011, combined with Peru’s loss of ATPA beneficiary status, caused a steep drop in imports entered under ATPA. The entry into force of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA) means that Ecuador is the only remaining beneficiary, which should further reduce the importance of ATPA, the ITC said.
The International Trade Commission is publishing notices in the Oct. 1 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will appear in another ITT article):