Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Promotion and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service Suresh Kumar discussed the importance of the U.S. -- Canada trade relationship at the Representation Canada (RepCAN) Conference in Montreal on June 18, 2010. RepCAN, a multi-sector matchmaker/exhibit, is designed to provide U.S. export-ready, small-to-medium sized companies opportunities to meet with potential customers in Canada’s three primary regional markets.
The Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has responded to a March 2010 letter from 15 U.S. apparel retailers and associations regarding Australia's progress on phasing out the animal husbandry practice known as mulesing. According to the Minister, Australia is making progress on finding alternatives to mulesing, but immediately banning the practice without alternatives in place would lead to an animal welfare problem. He urges retailers who want Australian non-mulesed wool to advise their buyers to source wool through the National Wool Declaration, which requires weekly audits to confirm information on mulesing is correct, including the use of pain relief.
The People’s Bank of China announced on June 19, 2010, that it will further reform the renminbi (RMB or yuan) exchange rate regime and enhance its exchange rate flexibility.
China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine states that new Stipulations on Supervision and Administration of Food Additive Production, the first of its kind in China, went into effect as of June 1, 2010.
The European Commission has posted the Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Association Agreement between the EU and Central America.
In the June 17, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notice was posted:
The World Trade Organization has posted Vietnam's responses to questions posed by the U.S. on its safeguard measures, such as whether the WTO Agreement on Safeguards is self-implementing in Vietnam.
The World Trade Organization has posted an overview of the specific trade concerns raised by the Technical Barriers to Trade Committee over the period 1995 - March 2010.
The Congressional Research Service has issued a report entitled, "Europe’s Preferential Trade Agreements: Status, Content, and Implications." Among other things, the report states that there are only a few remaining major developed countries that fall outside the EU’s network of PTAs, including the U.S., China, Japan, and Australia.
The World Trade Organization reports that during the June 8-9, 2010 meeting of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council, members discussed intellectual property enforcement trends, including concerns about a group of countries negotiating an anti-counterfeiting agreement; whether life forms should be eligible for patenting; and plans to beef up the annual review of a 2003 decision on access to medicines.