The Foreign Trade Zones Board is issuing the following notices for May 14, 2012:

Related-party trade accounted for 40.5% of total goods trade in 2011, according to a report by the Census Bureau, an absolute increase of 14.6% but a relative decrease from 40.8% to 40.5% as a percentage of total trade. Census said related-party trade accounted for about 48.3% of consumption imports and about 28.9% of total exports. Related-party trade includes trade by U.S. companies with their subsidiaries abroad as well as trade by U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies with their parent companies.Computer and electronic products, transportation equipment, and chemicals were the top three goods categories for both directions of trade.

The Foreign Trade Zones Board is issuing the following notices for May 11, 2012:

The Foreign Trade Zones Board is issuing the following notices for May 10, 2012:

The Foreign Trade Zones Board announced another outreach event to provide training and enable discussion about the new FTZ regulations in New York on July 24, 2012, and provided details on the September 13 outreach event in San Diego. At these events, FTZB will provide general training open to anyone interested in attending, including grantees, and will cover a range of provisions of the new regulations in the first session. A second outreach session for officials of grantee organizations will focus on regulatory provisions that have a direct impact on the grantee role. RSVPs are required by July 20 to attend the New York outreach event, and by September 10 to attend the event in San Diego.

Commerce Secretary Bryson said the Commerce Department will soon announce a call for proposals to support clusters specifically in advanced manufacturing -- through a competition called the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, in remarks at the “Future of Manufacturing Conference” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston May 9. These funds are not targeted to create clusters, Bryson said, because that’s not the government’s role. Instead, according to Bryson, Commerce wants to give a boost to existing clusters that have already formed on their own, and which show strong potential to drive innovation and create good jobs.

The International Trade Administration will partner with DHL Express to provide export assistance for small and mid-size businesses, they announced May 9. ITA said the partnership is a key part of implementing the National Export Initiative. Under the program, ITA will provide such resources to DHL’s U.S. exporting customers as industry-specific consulting, marketing research, lead generation of overseas contacts, and information on industry trade shows. The partnership was formally announced at a launch event at a DHL operations facility in Manhattan.

The creation of the Global Solar Council was not a response to dumping claims moving through the U.S. Commerce Department process, despite recent media claims, said GSC Executive Director Roland-Jan Meijer in a press statement. He said GSC's goal is just to promote" a favorable political framework for solar power, unrelated to any active trade disputes." But he said one goal is to "create awareness among stakeholders that free and open market conditions are essential to maintain a thriving global market for solar energy." Creation of the GSC was announced earlier this month (See ITT's Online Archives [Ref.12050501]). A coalition filed a series of solar equipment dumping complaints against China in October (See ITT's Online Archives [Ref.11102002]).

The U.S. goods and services deficit was $51.8 billion in March 2012, up $5.8 billion from March 2011, according to the U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services Report, released on May 10, 2012 by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The report showed that, as compared to February 2012 levels, exports were up $5.3 billion to $186.8 billion, and imports were up $11.7 billion to $238.6 billion. As compared to March 2011 totals, exports increased by 7.3% and imports by 8.4%. The U.S. trade deficit with China increased to $21.7 billion in March 2012, from $19.4 billion in February. Statement by Commerce Secretary Bryson available here. ITA fact sheet available here.

The Foreign Trade Zones Board is issuing the following notices for May 8, 2012: