U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)

The International Trade Administration (ITA) frequently issues notices on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has posted to its Web site the reports of 32 Trade Advisory Committees on the proposed U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice in order to make several technical corrections to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (HTS). According to the USTR, these modifications correct inadvertent omissions or errors in various Presidential Proclamations.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release announcing that the U.S. and Panama will begin negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) during the week of April 26, 2004. According to the press release, these negotiations will be held in Panama City. (Press Release 2004-26, dated 03/26/04, available at http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2004/03/04-26.pdf)

According to Presidential Proclamation 7758, which was issued on March 1, 2004, as well as U.S. governmental sources, Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) duty free treatment will terminate for goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, on or after May 1, 2004 from the following seven countries:

According to a State Department Washington File article, on March 24, 2004, the Senate failed to invoke cloture (i.e., end debate) on a bill to repeal the Foreign Sales Corporation/Extraterritorial Income Act (ETI) tax regime. The article notes that after failing to block further amendments to the bill, the Senate Republican leadership announced that they would work on a new strategy for pushing for passage of the bill. (Washington File article dated 03/24/04, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=March&x=20040324140811ebyessedo0.7140619&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html.)

The Journal of Commerce Online (JoC Online) reports that the World Customs Organization (WCO) is urging its member nations to work together in an effort to boost transportation security in the wake of the Madrid commuter train bombings. WCO called for its members to implement without delay anti-terror measures it has developed. WCO also stated that it will speed up the pace of work conducted by its specialized bodies with regard to international transport security, physical security of containers, effective customs controls, etc. (JoC Online Pub 03/18/04, www.joc.com)

The International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued two notices announcing that, following receipt of requests from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), it has instituted investigations under 19 USC 3804(f) regarding the potential economy wide and selected sectoral effects of the proposed Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) including the Dominican Republic, and the proposed U.S.-Morocco FTA.

U.S. government sources state that the International Trade Commission (ITC) is expected to soon post to its Web site Revision 1 of its electronic 2004 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (HTS). Sources state that the ITC's goal is to have Revision 1 posted by mid-April 2004.