The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for Oct. 5:
Dugie Standeford
Dugie Standeford, European Correspondent, Communications Daily and Privacy Daily, is a former lawyer. She joined Warren Communications News in 2000 to report on internet policy and regulation. In 2003 she moved to the U.K. and since then has covered European telecommunications issues. She previously covered the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and intellectual property law matters. She has a degree in psychology from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Oct. 4 that he will quickly investigate the details of a financial package offered by the provincial government of Nova Scotia to a paper mill in Port Hawkesbury. His comments responded to a Sept. 26 letter from Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine), which asked the USTR to determine if the deal is consistent with Canada's North American Free Trade Agreement and WTO commitments. The situation could significantly affect Maine's paper mills and the jobs and small businesses they support, Michaud wrote. The USTR agreed that news reports have “raised troubling questions about potential injurious and/or WTO-inconsistent subsidies.” Kirk said his office will seek information from the Canadian government and that the U.S. will also raise the issue at meetings this month of the WTO committee on subsidies.
The European Commission is investigating whether China is violating anti-dumping measures imposed on the import of bicycles originating there, and whether to make imports of bikes consigned from Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Tunisia subject to regulation, it said Sept. 26. The probe is the result of a request by the European Bicycle Manufacturers Association. The EBMA's evidence indicates that China is bypassing the anti-dumping measures by shipping them through the other countries, and that the measures are being undermined in terms of quantity and price, the EC said. The evidence also shows a significant pattern of trade involving imports from the named countries following the increase in anti-dumping duties on bicycles, it said.
The European Commission received a U.S. compliance notice in the “Boeing” WTO case (DS 353), it said Monday. In March, the trade body ruled that billions of dollars of subsidies to Boeing were illegal, and the U.S. was given until Sept. 24 to end them, said EU Trade spokesman John Clancy. “We will now immediately review their compliance package to check whether the US have taken the necessary steps to end these subsidies and their adverse effects,” he said in a written statement. The parties have a procedural “sequencing agreement” under which they now have 15 days to resolve any disagreements, the EC said.
Burma/Myanmar should benefit from the “Everything But Arms” trade preference system now that it has improved its political, social and labor environments, the European Commission said. Under the regime, the country will be granted duty- and quota-free access to the European market for all products except arms and ammunition, it said. The EC believes that despite its many structural constraints, Burma/Myanmar it should see a rise in exports under the preferential regime, it said. The proposal needs approval by the Council of Ministers and European Parliament. Myanmar/Burma exports to the EU amounted to 169 million euros ($221 million) in 2011, mostly concentrated on clothing, the EC said.
Trade between the EU and South Africa is on the upswing after declining in 2009, Eurostat reported Thursday. The value of EU27 exports peaked at 26.6 billion euros ($34 billion) in 2011, while imports rose to 20.5 billion, still not reaching the record levels of 2007, it said. As a result, EU27 trade with South Africa showed a surplus of 6.1 billion euros in 2011 compared with +1.4 billion in 2010 and -3.1 billion in 2009, it said. Trade fell in the first half of this year compared with the same period 2011, it said. Exports were slightly down, imports more significantly lower, it said. The result is that the EU27 surplus in trade of goods with South Africa rose from 2.7 billion in the first half of 2011 to 3.4 billion in the same period of 2012, it said. Germany is the largest EU exporter to South Africa, the U.K. the biggest importer, it said.
Chinese exports rose 2.7% to around $178 billion in August, up from 1% in July but far below the 11.3% growth recorded in June, the Chinese government said Sept. 10. Imports dropped for the third consecutive month, falling 2.6% from a year earlier, it said. Total foreign trade from January-August reached $2.5 trillion, up 6.2% over last year but below the 10% full-year growth target set by the state for 2012, it said. China's trade with the EU, its largest trade partner, fell by almost 2% from January to August, but trade with the U.S., its second-largest partner, rose almost 10% in the first eight months of this year, it said.
The leaders of the U.S., Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam are committed to finalizing a “comprehensive, next-generation regional agreement that liberalizes and promotes trade and investment” and addresses new and traditional trade issues, they said in a statement issued Sept. 9 in Vladivostok, Russia. The current round of talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is taking place until Sept. 15 in Leesburg, Va. The parties, which now also include Mexico and Canada, have told negotiators to find pragmatic, creative, flexible and mutually-acceptable solutions to the remaining unresolved issues, they said.
The Coast Guard is seeking feedback by Oct. 11 on an interim report by the Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study (ACPARS) workgroup, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Sept. 11. The study updates the status of the work and the remaining requirements for completion. The data gathered may result in the establishment of one or more new vessel routing measures, changes to existing routing measures, or disestablishment of existing routing measures off the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida.
Directorate of Defense Trade Controls notification of name/address changes: