Roberto Vaquero took over as director of CBP San Juan Field Operations on June 22, CBP said June 27. Vaquero has more than 21 years of federal government service and "has served in critical leadership positions within CBP," the agency said, including as acting director of field operations for the San Juan Field Office. Vaquero also held leadership positions in the Miami and New York CBP field offices, and was acting director of CBP's Immigration Advisory Program, overseeing operations in 13 countries.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Looming elections in the U.S. put pressure on negotiations with the EU on sustainable steel and aluminum, limiting talks because new elections would make announcing potential tariffs as part of the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum unpopular or maybe "not possible at all," Charlotte Unger, a research fellow for the American-German Institute (AGI), said during a webinar June 27 (see 2306270059).
The U.S. candidate for World Customs Organization secretary general was elected to the post June 24. Ian Saunders, whose five-year term will begin Jan. 1, is currently deputy assistant secretary at the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration. The secretary-general is responsible for "overseeing the day-to-day activities of the WCO Secretariat," the WCO said in a news release. Saunders has over 20 years in customs and more than 30 years' experience in international relations, CBP and the WCO said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America recently urged CBP to pull back proposed new data elements on CBP Form 7501 for steel and aluminum imports, noting the information is already provided to the Commerce Department through that agency's import licensing programs and could be obtained from Commerce directly without any added burden to the trade.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
A witness representing a nongovernmental organization focused on the environment called on the Senate Finance Committee to take up legislation that would ban imports of products that are made on illegally deforested land, including in the Amazon rainforest, at a committee hearing on cattle supply chains and Amazon deforestation June 22.
The Federal Maritime Commission has hired Alex Chintella as an administrative law judge, FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei announced June 21. Chintella was previously an attorney and administrative hearing officer with the Federal Railroad Administration.
CBP named Daniel Mercado the port director for Presidio, and he was sworn in on June 22. Mercado has a long tenure with CBP and was most recently liaison to the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement in Guatemala City, Guatemala.