The White House press secretary stated at a briefing on March 16, 2009 that Mexico has announced its intent to take retaliatory actions against a range of U.S. exports in response to the termination of a cross-border, long-distance trucking pilot that allowed a small number of Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. beyond the border commercial zones, and provided reciprocal access to U.S. companies in Mexico.
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Economic Stimulus Bill) into law. (White House statement, dated 02/17/09, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/02/17/Signed-sealed-delivered-ARRA/.)
The President has issued Proclamation 8330, which designates Kosovo and Azerbaijan as beneficiary developing countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), and terminates the designation of Mauritania as an African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) beneficiary country1.
On October 16, 2008, President Bush signed into law H.R. 7222 (Public Law 110-436), a bill to extend the Andean trade preferences and Generalized System of Preferences programs beyond their current expiration dates, and make various changes regarding certain African and Dominican Republic textiles.
1. President Signs GSP and ATPA/ATPDEA Extensions, DR "2 for 1" Apparel Benefit, AGOA "Abundant Supply" Repeal, Etc.
On Monday, September 15, 2008, the President signed into law H.R. 6532, which transfers $8.017 billion to the Highway Trust Fund from the Treasury General Fund. (White House statement, dated 09/15/08, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080915-11.html.)
On July 10, 2008, the Senate Appropriations Committee ordered favorably reported a bill to make fiscal year 2009 appropriations for the Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies. (Congressional Record, dated 07/10/08, available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r110:@FIELD(FLD003d)@FIELD(DDATE20080710)
The Journal of Commerce reports that critics in the trade community have stated that U.S. Customs and Border Protection grossly underestimated the cost of compliance with 102, particularly for medium-sized and small importers, and Congressional homeland security committees question whether CBP has been thorough in its charge to work with the trade. (JoC, dated 03/17/08, www.joc.com)
According to a Special Quest Edition by Avalon Risk Management, Inc., the primary writers of U.S. Customs bonds met February 21, 2008 to discuss the issue that the surety industry was not consulted prior to the publication of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's January 2nd Federal Register notice on 102, and confirmed that more information must be obtained to understand the true nature of the risk that 102 will create for the surety industry. (Special Quest Edition, dated 02/22/08, available by emailing BP at documents@brokerpower.com)
On December 14, 2007, the Senate passed its version of H.R. 2419, the Farm Bill Extension Act. The House passed its version of H.R. 2419 on July 27, 2007. According to the Library of Congress' Thomas Web site, the Senate has requested a conference with the House to resolve differences between the two versions. (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/31/07 news, 07073199 2, for BP summary on the House passage of H.R. 2419.) (Congressional Record, dated 12/14/07, available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r110:@FIELD(FLD003d)@FIELD(DDATE20071214).)