BALTIMORE -- There are some barriers to data sharing among NAFTA companies that would ease goods' flow across borders, but progress is steady, panelists said at the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference. Kim Campbell, founder of MKMarin, a Canadian trade services firm, said some of the problems with data sharing on Canadian exports is that Canada generally doesn't ask exporters to submit information if they're sending their goods to their southern neighbor. "We don’t actually collect export data into the United States," she said, and shipments from Canada to Mexico are often not tracked, either, because firms took advantage of the lack of reporting requirement for shipments south, as goods transited across the U.S.
BALTIMORE -- More than 15 years after CBP implemented the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) program, it's time to raise the standards for supply chain security, said Liz Schmelzinger, CTPAT director at CBP. "CTPAT is 17 years old now," she said, and "really not as effective as it used to be." Most pressing is the need for companies to examine cybersecurity aspects of the supply chain, she said, as the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks continues to grow.
The Commerce Department has abandoned its seven-year ban on exports to Chinese telecom giant ZTE, instead levying a second $1 billion penalty for violating sanctions on North Korea and Iran, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an interview on CNBC June 7. Previously, ZTE paid all but $300 million of a $1.19 billion fine, but Commerce said the company didn't follow through with its promises to discipline employees responsible for the illegal exports, and lied to the Bureau of Industry and Security.
BALTIMORE -- The first round of Section 232 product exclusions should be released soon, said Rich Ashooh, assistant secretary for export administration at the Department of Commerce. "The [Commerce] secretary is very anxious to reach that milestone," he said in response to a question from International Trade Today. Ashooh spoke at the annual American Association of Exporters and Importers Conference June 7.
The European Union requested consultations with the U.S., to hash out whether Europe has resolved the issues with Airbus subsidies, as it claimed on May 17. The EU lost the case on state financing for plane model launches back in 2011, but the World Trade Organization legal process has been continuing since then on whether the illegal practices have been fully abandoned. The U.S. first brought the case in 2004. On May 15, a WTO appellate body said the EU had partly complied with its obligations, but still had some changes to make (see 1805150066).
House Speaker Paul Ryan expressed skepticism that there's a veto-proof majority aligned to pass a bill constricting the president's authority to levy tariffs. "You'd have to pass a law he would want to sign into law. You can do the math on that," he said at a press conference at the Capitol on June 6.
Companies that have made requests for product exclusions on South Korean, Brazilian or Argentinian steel imports will be denied, a Commerce Department spokesman said June 6. The proclamation only makes product exclusions available to goods imported from countries that face tariffs, not to those that have exports constrained by quotas. Brazil is the second-largest steel exporter for the U.S., and South Korea is third.
Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican Trump critic from Tennessee who is retiring at the end of the year, told reporters in the Capitol June 5 that he will be introducing a bill that would not allow the president to implement tariffs or quotas based on national security concerns without congressional approval. That authority was given to the executive branch in 1962. According to a source familiar with the bill, if passed, it would require the president to submit to Congress actions under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. "For a 60-day period following submission, legislation to approve the proposal will qualify for expedited consideration, guaranteeing the opportunity for both debate and a vote." This would give Congress an opportunity to veto tariffs on autos and auto parts -- an investigation under Section 232 recently began (see 1805240002). The bill would also apply to the administration's steel and aluminum tariffs and quotas, the source said.
With Mexico and Canada balking at U.S. demands in NAFTA negotiations, President Donald Trump is contemplating replacing the deal with two bilateral agreements with Mexico and Canada, an administration official said June 5. The comment from Larry Kudlow, the president's chief economic adviser, followed a remark from Trump on June 1 that separate deals make sense "because you're talking about a very different two countries."
Businesses that rely on steel are being whipsawed by the shifting parameters of 25 percent tariffs, and some have been waiting two months to find out if any of what they import will be spared. None of the thousands of product exclusion requests have been accepted or rejected so far by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security.