UPS said it completed a commercial paper transaction denominated in the offshore Renminbi currency, creating a new financial vehicle to fund growth projects in China. It said the CNH 630,000,000 deal "will give UPS more flexibility in payment, collection and future investments in China."

The International Civil Aviation Organization and Airports Council International signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to jointly improve safety at airports worldwide, they said June 15. Objectives include:

Two union organizing drives were launched at American Airlines, union executives said. The two unions, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, are launching membership drives to win support from American mechanics represented by the Transport Workers Union, which has represented American mechanics since 1946.

The U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel and the Source ASEAN Full-Service Alliance will host a breakfast seminar for apparel importers on "Sourcing in Southeast Asia" June 19 in New York City. Speakers are Julia Hughes, president of USA-ITA; Michael Blakeley, director of SAFSA; Tanjila Islam, CEO of TigerTrade; and Frances Zwenig, counselor at the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council. Topics will include Vietnam and the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, opportunities in Cambodia, and the U.S.'s recent suspension of sanctions on investment in Burma. The event will be at the offices of Squire Sanders, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, beginning at 8:30 a.m. -- ssault@usaita.com or 202-419-0474.

Unfair or illegal trade practices hurt the U.S. clean energy economy and significantly slow the transition to a global low-carbon economy, said a report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. The report, on Green Mercantilism: Threat to the Clean Energy Economy, catalogs how many nations, including China, are manipulating the global trading system to gain unfair economic advantage in the competition for what could be a $2.2 trillion market for clean energy, ITIF said. It said countries use an array of mercantilist practices to boost exports and limit imports, including IP theft, forced technology transfer, export subsidies, discriminatory standards, tariffs and preferential treatment of domestic firms. The report said "green mercantilism" impedes progress toward energy technology breakthroughs because innovators are undermined by foreign competitors propped up by government policy and face mounting disincentives to invest in R&D. Examples cited include:

U.S. import shipment volume for May increased 5.6% from April and 3.5% from May of 2011, measured in TEUs, said Zepol Corp. May nearly matched the imports of August 2011, last year's top month. U.S. imports from China, measured in TEUs, rose once again in May by 8.4% and are up from May of 2011 by 2.2%, Zepol said. Imports from Europe were down in April, but have risen in May by 3.7%, it said. The largest growth among U.S. ports was at Long Beach (up 12 %), Seattle (10.4%), and Houston (26.5%). Maersk Line was up 0.4% in May. Evergreen Line jumped 14%, Hanjin Shipping Co. 17.9% and China Ocean Shipping 26.9%, Zepol said.

The National Foreign Trade Council supports the immediate ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty, it said as it joined The American Sovereignty Campaign, which also is supporting the treaty. NFTC President Bill Reinsch said: "With more than 160 other nations having already ratified the treaty, U.S. ratification is critical to ensuring the rule of law and the protection of America's interests on the high seas. Ratification would also afford the United States an internationally recognized system for dispute resolution in foreign waters."

Air cargo demand has bottomed out, following a sharp fall in 2011, in line with the moderate improvement of business confidence in a number of economies outside Europe, according to the latest figures from the International Air Transport Association. But the upturn is weak and narrowly based, with only Middle Eastern airlines seeing significant volume gains, it said. European economic weakness is expected to limit any further improvement. Overall 47.8 million tonnes of freight are expected to be shipped by air in 2012, basically unchanged from the 47.7 million tonnes carried in 2011, according to IATA figures.

U.S. containerized imports dropped 2 percent in April year over year, to 1,372,851 twenty-foot-equivalent units, said Mario Moreno, economist for The Journal of Commerce/PIERS. The decline followed a 7.3 percent year-over-year gain in March due, in part, to an early Lunar New Year in China. Moreno predicted growth in imports will regain speed in the second half of the year, with the help of Federal Reserve intervention. Overall U.S. containerized imports were up 1 percent in the first four months of the year, the report said. Imports of footwear and miscellaneous fruits were each down 20 percent, the report said: menswear was down 19 percent; women's and infant wear down 11 percent; miscellaneous apparel down 11 percent; auto tires down 6 percent; and computer-related products down 8 percent. U.S. containerized imports from Asia declined 1.6 percent in April, with shipments from China down 3 percent. Chile dropped 25 percent, Hong Kong 11 percent and Belgium 17 percent. Japan was up 17 percent, and Vietnam up 14 percent.

The U.S. and Chinese governments should begin a constructive dialogue to "avert a destructive global trade war" in the solar industry, said the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy, a manufacturers group. Chinese and Indian companies are seeking anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigations against companies entering their markets from the U.S. and other countries.