The Commerce Department's Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) has issued its December 2003 Textile and Apparel Trade Balance Report (containing data through December 31, 2003). The Trade Balance Report shows imports and exports and calculates the trade balance for U.S. textile and apparel trade with the world and with major U.S. trading partners.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release announcing that USTR Robert Zoellick formally notified Congress, on behalf of the President, of the Administration's intent to initiate negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with Thailand.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has made available on its Web site certain trade statistics, which include lists of the top 5000 Importers for Fiscal Year (FY) 2002, FY 2001, and FY 2000.
The Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) held a quarterly meeting on February 6, 2004 in Washington, DC to discuss, and receive updates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials on, various customs and trade issues.
Reuters has reported that U.S. lawmakers are unlikely to repeal export tax subsidies that violate global trade rules in time to avoid punitive European Union (EU) trade sanctions on billions of dollars of U.S. goods. According to Reuters, the EU plans to impose a 5% duty on more than $4 billion worth of U.S. exports beginning March 1, 2004 if President Bush has not signed legislation repealing the Foreign Sales Corporation-Extraterritorial Income (FSC-ETI) tax regime. (Reuters Pub 02/13/04, available at http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4355783)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has posted to its Web site a third version of its Questions & Answers (Q&A) document regarding the registration of food facilities, which is effective immediately.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a notice which corrects its October 10, 2003 interim final rule that requires, effective December 12, 2003, the submission to the FDA of prior notice of food (including animal feed) that is imported or offered for import into the U.S..
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued two notices stating that on January 16, 2004 the ITA and the Government of Ukraine (GOU) signed a final amendment to the 1997 Agreement which suspended the antidumping (AD) investigation of cut-to-length carbon steel plate from the Ukraine (1997 Agreement).
(a) BGH has a preliminary de minimis rate of 0.43%.
The ITA states that it will issue appropriate assessment instructions directly to CBP within 15 days of February 12, 2004.