India's Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Textiles has stressed the need to avoid protectionist tendencies by developed economies. Speaking to a delegation of the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag, the Minister expressed confidence that the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) scheme, which expired in December 2010, may soon be revived with full and long term reauthorization. The Minister noted that the U.S.'s withdrawal of the GSP benefit for a number of products from India (e.g. jewelry) benefited major trading partners like China and France and not less developed countries.
The Renew GSP Today blog, run by the Coalition for GSP, a group of U.S. companies and associations that benefit from the Generalized System of Preferences program, is calling on GSP supporters to contact their Representatives in support of H.R. 2832, a bill that would extend GSP. H.R. 2832 is scheduled to be voted on by the House of Representatives on September 7, 2011 (evening vote expected).
On September 2, 2011, the following trade-related bills were introduced:
House Ways and Means Committee leaders1 introduced H.R. 2832 on September 2, 2011, in order to renew GSP and increase the merchandise processing fee for formal entries by 65%. The House could pass H.R. 2832 on September 7, as it is being considered under a suspension of the rules procedure.2
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is announcing a review of Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Niger to determine if these countries should be redesignated as African Growth and Opportunity Act beneficiaries. Guinea and Niger lost their benefits in 2010, and Cote d’Ivoire in 2005.
On August 3, 2011, Senate Majority Leader Reid (D) and Minority Leader McConnell (R) announced that after lengthy discussions, they have agreed on the Senate process for moving forward with the pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. According to Senate Majority Leader Reid, the agreement provides for the consideration of the bipartisan compromise on the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, followed by consideration of the implementing bills for the pending FTAs, when the Senate returns from its August recess.
On July 28, 2011, the U.S. International Trade Commission released “The Year in Trade 2010,” its annual overview of the previous year's trade-related activities.
Both versions of the draft Korea FTA bills approved during the July House and Senate Committee mock mark-ups of the three pending free trade agreements would increase the merchandise processing fee (MPF) on formal entries by more than 60%. If enacted, such a large increase would result in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional MPF payments by importers.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 11 - 15, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
The following are highlights of the House Ways and Means Committee's section-by-section summary of the draft U.S.-South Korea (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement Implementing Act, which would establish the necessary conditions for the FTA to enter into force.