The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has posted the April 5, 2011 statement by USTR Kirk before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. Kirk states that the President’s FY 2012 budget for USTR will have "significant bang for the buck" as USTR is negotiating high standard, job creating agreements, working to achieve the President’s goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014, and opening markets to U.S. products. He added that U.S. preference programs, the Generalized System of Preferences and the Andean Trade Preferences Act, merit renewal for as long as possible.
On March 30, 2011, the House Ways and Means Committee’s Trade Subcommittee held a hearing on the Panama free trade agreement. According to an Administration witness, Panama is close to completing work on its outstanding FTA issues. Once those issues are addressed, the Administration will be ready to prepare the Panama FTA for Congressional consideration.
On March 29, 2011, Representative Levin (D), Ranking Member on the House Ways and Means Committee, discussed the Congressional trade agenda in a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
On March 24, 2011, the European Parliament voted to extend the European Union's generalized tariff preferences for developing countries to December 31, 2013 (from January 1, 2012). The vote comes after the Parliament received a pledge from the European Commission to share information on the decision-making process surrounding the generalized system of preferences (GSP). The EU GSP will be revisited in negotiations later in 2011.
The European Union issued the following trade-related releases on March 24, 2011:
On March 17, 2011, the House Ways and Means Committee’s Trade Subcommittee held a hearing on the Colombia free trade agreement. One of the Administration's witnesses at the hearing noted that senior level U.S.-Colombia talks were being held from March 17-19 to try to resolve the Administration’s remaining concerns with the agreement.
The House Ways and Means Committee has posted its oversight plan for the 112th Congress (2011-2012)1. According to the Committee, the plan sets forth the oversight hearings and related activities that the Committee and its Trade and other Subcommittees plan to conduct during the 112th Congress.
On March 7, 2011, the European Commission proposed an update, called Omnibus I, to the way decisions on trade regulations are made in the European Union. The EC states that the change is part of its greater effort to reform EU decision-making procedures (the “comitology system) and would not amend the substance of its trade-related regulations.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 7 -- March 11, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
The Renew GSP Today blog, run by Coalition for GSP, a group of U.S. companies and associations that benefit from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, is calling on GSP importers to join their supporter list.