The Commerce Department issued the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam (A-552-801). The agency calculated preliminary AD rates for Hung Vuong Group and 23 other companies that weren't individually reviewed.
The Commerce Department issued the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review on solid urea from Russia (A-821-801). The agency preliminarily calculated a zero-percent AD rate for MCC EuroChem. If the agency's finding is continued in the final results, importers of solid urea from EuroChem entered between July 2012 and June 2013 will not be assessed AD duties, and future entries from EuroChem will not be subject to an AD cash deposit requirement until further notice.
The U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue has yielded progress this week in Information Technology Agreement (ITA) expansion discussions and U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty negotiations, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in a July 10 statement. Froman recently urged China to make preliminary concessions in ITA negotiations in order to restart stalled negotiations prior to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) convention in November (see 14070801). The U.S. and China will intensify ITA discussions over the ensuing weeks, said Froman in the statement. The Chinese government also pledged to move forward with investment treaty negotiations on a “negative list” of sectors of the Chinese economy that the government is prohibiting U.S. investment in, said Froman. Chinese President Xi Jinping called on both sides to implement progress made in the summit in Beijing, while welcoming talks with President Barack Obama during the APEC convention (here).
In a repeat of the dynamic before the FCC approved its last major orders in May, Chairman Tom Wheeler once again finds himself having to cut deals with the other two Democrats to win approval for an order on E-rate overhaul, scheduled for a vote Friday. Leading up to the commission’s May 15 votes on a net neutrality NPRM, spectrum aggregation rules and preliminary rules for the TV incentive auction, Wheeler also had to accommodate Democratic commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel after Republicans Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly were unable to work out any agreements with Wheeler.
In a repeat of the dynamic before the FCC approved its last major orders in May, Chairman Tom Wheeler once again finds himself having to cut deals with the other two Democrats to win approval for an order on E-rate overhaul, scheduled for a vote Friday. Leading up to the commission’s May 15 votes on a net neutrality NPRM, spectrum aggregation rules and preliminary rules for the TV incentive auction, Wheeler also had to accommodate Democratic commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel after Republicans Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly were unable to work out any agreements with Wheeler.
The Commerce Department published notices in the July 8 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is urging China to make preliminary concessions toward expanding the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) aimed at restarting stalled negotiations prior to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) convention in November, said USTR chief Michael Froman during a July 7 conference call with reporters. Froman said China is able to concede valuable products for tariff elimination as part of a future ITA expansion deal during the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue this week in Beijing. “This is an area where concrete progress would have potential positive spillover effects into other negotiations between us, whether it’s the bilateral investment treaty discussions or other international negotiations,” said Froman. “We think it's well within China’s grasp to make progress at the [Dialogue] if they so choose to do so.” U.S. and Chinese officials began negotiations about a year ago.
A countervailing duty cash deposit requirement will take effect July 8 for imports of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from China (C-570-013), as the Commerce Department found illegal subsidization of Chinese producers in its preliminary determination. Commerce is making the suspension of liquidation and CV duty cash deposits retroactive for subject merchandise from all Chinese companies except Benxi Steel entered on or after April 9.
While on the surface work on the TV incentive auction has slowed at the FCC, agency officials tell us members of its Incentive Auction Task Force are working long hours to get various public notices and rulemakings ready for release starting late this summer. More than 50 FCC staffers from the auction team, the Wireless and Media bureaus, the Office of Engineering and Technology and other parts of the agency are doing significant amounts of work to prepare for the auction, agency officials said.
While on the surface, work on the TV incentive auction has slowed at the FCC, agency officials tell us members of the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force are working long hours to get various public notices and rulemakings ready for release starting late this summer. More than 50 FCC staffers from the auction team, the Wireless and Media bureaus, the Office of Engineering and Technology and other parts of the agency are doing significant amounts of work to prepare for the auction, agency officials said.