The Obama administration announced the results of its 2014 Generalized System of Preferences review on Sept. 30, making a number of changes, effective Oct. 1, to product eligibility in the program. President Barack Obama issued a presidential proclamation (here) to implement those changes. The proclamation wraps up the shortened 2014 GSP review (see 1507060025).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 21-25 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a nearly 50-page summary of U.S. negotiating objectives in the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Sept. 23. The summary, coupled with a recent round-up of the state of play in the talks (see 1509080024), falls in line with new USTR transparency obligations put in place by Trade Promotion Authority.
The prospects for a Customs Reauthorization compromise bill in September are increasingly bleak as staff continues to negotiate an acceptable deal and congressional leadership grapples with a busy schedule this month, said a range of people close to the negotiations over recent days. Republican leadership and other lawmakers party to the talks insist, however, they still are committed to deliver a customs compromise, known as a conference report. Lawmakers haven’t taken any formal steps toward completing a report since the Senate appointed conferees in late June (see 1507070066).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 10-14 in case they were missed.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership isn’t likely to include a specific de minimis level in the customs chapter of a final pact, said Mike Mullen, executive director of the Express Association of America in an Aug. 11 interview. Despite a general industry preference to include a de minimis figure in the TPP, the complexity of bringing together such different economies on a specific de minimis number put the provision out of reach of negotiators, said Mullen, who sits on the interagency Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Customs and Trade Facilitation.
The Commerce Department issued a final rule to amend the Export Administration Regulations to implement the State Department’s removal of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. The EAR modifications remove the anti-terrorism license requirement for Cuba, but keep in place preexisting license requirements for all EAR-subject items unless those items has a license exception, Commerce said in the rule (here). The rule is effective July 22.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on July 6 announced the beginning of its annual review of product eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences (here). USTR has listed nearly 100 products (here) that are set to be removed from GSP for certain countries because they exceeded competitive need limitations in 2014 on the amount that each country may export under GSP. Petitions from importers for waivers from expiration of GSP benefits are due by July 31.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is readying to launch a review on competitive need limitations (CNLs) in the Generalized System of Preferences, said lobbyists with GSP expertise in recent interviews. The process will include a request for industry stakeholder input, expected in the coming weeks, the lobbyists said. President Barack Obama signed GSP renewal into law on June 29 and the retroactive renewal will take effect a month after that date. Congress put language in that legislation (here) to require USTR to conclude the CNL review by Oct. 1. Importers have 180 days after the date of enactment to submit filings retroactively for reliquidation.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., launched the legislative process on June 23 to give approval for a conference on Customs Reauthorization with the House, McConnell said on the Senate floor. The conference isn't likely to tackle differences on trade remedy antidumping legislation after McConnell tacked the Senate's Leveling the Playing Field Act onto the trade preference package. The two sides are still poised, however, to try to reconcile differences over the PROTECT and ENFORCE Act, two provisions that deal with CBP investigations into duty evasion claims. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., vowed in mid-May to send President Barack Obama a compromise Customs Reauthorization bill by the end of June (see 1505200025). McConnell's move toward conference, which involves filing cloture, prepares a cloture vote on the customs conference following passage of the preference package in the coming days, said Senate Democratic leadership on June 23. The Senate's HR-644 (here) and the House measure (here) share a range of similarities, such as a de minimis increase to $800.