Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) hailed the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement’s (FTA) entry into force, which is scheduled to take effect May 15, 2012 and will phase-out Colombian tariffs on American manufactured and agricultural goods. The trade agreement with Colombia will boost U.S. exports by more than $1 billion and help U.S. exporters regain market share that has been lost to countries that have already signed FTAs with Colombia, said Baucus in a press release. “Colombia is dropping tariffs on our manufactured and agricultural goods, and that means the door is opening for American workers and businesses to grow,” Baucus said. “This a major economic win that levels the playing field for American workers and businesses. Colombia’s economy is growing quickly, and it’s a lucrative market for the world-class products made here in the U.S. This trade deal is worth a billion dollars in new U.S. exports and thousands of new jobs at home, and that’s just the kind of boost our economy needs."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said May 14, 2012 goods of Argentina will lose Generalized System of Preference (GSP) eligibility if entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after May 28, 2012. President Obama issued Presidential Proclamation 8788 (FR 1889, March 29, 2012) suspending Argentina’s GSP eligibility because Argentina had not acted in good faith in enforcing two longstanding arbitral awards.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection chose Patrick Wilson as Area Port Director for the Sault Sainte Marie, Mich., port of entry, said CBP. Wilson previously was Assistant Port Director for passenger operations for CBP in Sault Sainte Marie and oversaw immigration policy, enforcement and CBP’s trusted traveler programs. Current Port Director Devin Chamberlain will take over as Area Port Director at the Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, assuming responsibility for CBP passenger and air cargo operations for Detroit Metro,
The following are the trade-related hearings scheduled from May 14-18, 2012:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted an updated version of its spreadsheet of ACE ESAR A2.2 (Initial Entry Types) programming issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided information on the reallocation of additional tariff-rate quota for raw sugar and reallocation of unused 2012 raw sugar tariff-rate quota (TRQ). The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative provided notice of the country-by-country allocations for both categories, effective April 26, 2012.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection released its May 9 Customs Bulletin. While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does list recent information collection notices and recent Court of International Trade decisions.
Lawmakers, industry executives and musicians voiced disparate views over the need for adjustment to the Lacey Act during a House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs hearing May 9, 2012. Congress expanded the law in 2008 to ban trade in products containing illegally harvested wood or plant material. Those changes also require importers to document the genus, species and country of harvest of any wood or plant material contained in an imported product.