International Trade Law News

There is an interesting article written by Laura Rozen in The Nation discussing the possible Al Qaeda ties of a contracting firm being used by the U.S. Government in Iraq. The article also discusses how the U.S. Government makes its Specially Designated Global Terrorist designations.

Today the American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade filed an antidumping petition on Wooden Bedroom Furniture from China.

In Bethlehem Steel, et al. v. United States, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) recently remanded the ITC's 2000 final negative injury determination in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations involving cold-rolled steel products from Argentina, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and Venezuela.

The Plaintiffs had challenged three aspects of the ITC’s investigation: (1) that the ITC improperly found that the captive production provision of 19 U.S.C. § 1677(7)(C)(iv) was inapplicable to the Final Determinations; (2) that the ITC improperly relied on information upon which the parties were not given an opportunity to comment; and (3) that the ITC’s findings concerning certain conditions of competition, and the volume and price effects of cold-rolled steel imports, were not supported by substantial evidence and otherwise in accordance with law.

The CIT found that the ITC’s interpretation of 19 U.S.C. § 1677(7)(C)(iv) was not in accordance with law and remanded the final decision to the ITC to define “internal transfers” consistent with the will of Congress. Additionally, the Court held that the ITC did not observe the proper procedure for applying facts otherwise available in its calculation of the overlap betweencaptively-produced downstream products and downstream products produced from merchant market sales. The Court remanded the Final Determinations and instructed the ITC to clarify how it complied with the statutory framework for applying facts otherwise available. If the ITC determines that it did not adhere to all of the statutory prerequisite conditions, then it must give the Plaintiffs an opportunity to remedy any deficiencies in their data. In addition, in light of the Court’s instruction to the ITC to reconsider its definition of “internal transfers,” the Court declined to rule on whether the Plaintiffs had an opportunity to comment on the perceived shift in methodology by the ITC. The CIT instructed the ITC to issue its findings on remand within 90 days.

The USTR has requested parties to submit comments on significant barriers to U.S. exports of goods, services and overseas direct investment for inclusion in the annual national trade estimate report on foreign trade barriers. Public comments are due not later than Friday, December 12, 2003.

USA*Engage has issued a press release urging Congress to retain amendments in the Treasury-transportation Appropriations bill that would suspend enforcement of current travel restrictions on Cuba. Last week, the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Craig/Dorgan amendment to suspend enforcement of current restrictions on travel to Cuba. The House passed an identical measure in September.

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published in the Federal Register the proposed regulations implementing the mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) program on meat, seafood, produce and peanuts. See the article posted on October 28th (below) for more information on this controversial program.

Preliminary steel import data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce confirm that U.S. steel imports increased from August to September 2003, although they remain at modest levels and are down significantly for the year. Total steel imports in September 2003 were 1.9 million tons compared to 1.7 million tons in August 2003, an 8.6% increase. However, September 2003 imports were down by more than 41% compared to September 2002. Year to date import data confirmed a 26.9% decrease from 2002 (24.0 million tons in 2002 to 17.5 million tons in 2003). While a weak economy has decreased the need for imported steel, much of the decrease is a result of the section 201 tariffs and tariff-rate quotas imposed by the U.S. on many steel products in March 2002.

The U.S. Court of International Trade has announced that the incumbent chief judge, Gregory W. Carman, will be stepping down as chief judge on October 31, 2003. The new chief judge, Jane A. Restani, will assume her duties on November 1, 2003.

Despite the circulation of information to the contrary, the new Cuba initiatives announced by the President on October 10, 2003 do not, in fact, end the ability of U.S. companies to export agricultural or medical products to Cuba.

The Cuban Assets Control Regulations enforced by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) specifically permit travel to Cuba to engage in the marketing and sales negotiation of agricultural and other humanitarian products, such as medicines and medical devices. In addition, the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the agency responsible for overseeing agricultural and medical exports to Cuba, continues to process notifications submitted by companies for the export of agricultural products to Cuba (these are known as License Exception AGR notifications).

While the President's October 10, 2003 announcement called for greater enforcement of travel restrictions to ensure that permitted travel for Americans is not abused and used as cover for illegal business travel, legitimate travel to market and negotiate humanitarian products is still licensable.

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi today said that January 2005 remained the deadline for completing the Doha Round of trade talks, despite the breakdown of negotiations in Cancun, Mexico last month.

The Doha Round aims to remove trade barriers in a range of sectors from agriculture to services. But the talks in Cancun broke down over demands for developed countries to cut financial support for farmers and over developing nations' opposition to a set of new rules which looked to expand WTO regulation into investment and competition policy.

Support is growing for the Southern Shrimp Alliance's efforts to file an antidumping petition against imported shrimp after the Louisiana Shrimp association recently announced that it is likely to the antidumping effort. The countries targeted by the petitions could include at least China, India, Thailand, Ecuador, Vietnam, Brazil and Mexico, which are the major shrimp exporters to the United States.

Japan and seven Pacific Rim countries, including China, South Korea and the United States, recently reached an agreement to take additional measures to prevent North Korea from obtaining illegal products with military potential via indirect exports. The meeting, organized by Japan, was the first to focus exclusively on export controls in Asia.

The agreement reached by the eight countries will establish a system whereby the countries can inform each other about suspicious trade practices. The participants agreed to draw up a basic principle on export controls in the region when they gather again in Tokyo in early 2004.

Today the House Ways and Means Committee voted 24-5 to approve a bill repealing existing tax breaks for U.S. exporters that were held to be in violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. The WTO has previously held that the U.S. Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) program and the successor Extraterritorial Income Act (ETI) violated rules against export subsidies.

The European Union (EU), which brought both WTO challenges, has authority to impose trade sanctions of $4 billion a year against U.S. imports in retaliation unless the United States repeals the FSC/ETI tax breaks. EU officials have warned they could begin imposing some sanctions as soon as January.

Many obstacles remain for passage of this legislation as Congress' 2003 session moves closer to adjourning for the year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture stated that the mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) program on meat, seafood, produce and peanuts could cost American foodmakers up to $3.9 billion in its first year. The USDA found virtually no benefits from possible consumer demand for labeling. The full text of the proposed rule will be published in the Oct. 30 Federal Register. The 2002 Farm Bill requires country of origin labeling for all covered commodities sold at retail beginning September 30, 2004.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published today an interim final rule amending the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations to reflect the substantial lifting of economic sanctions on Iraq that occurred in May 2003. OFAC has requested parties to submit comments on the impact of the regulations by December 29, 2003.

Today the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) announced in the Federal Register the institution of an antidumping investigation on certain processed hazelnuts from Turkey. This investigation is being instituted in response to a petition filed on October 21, 2003, by Westnut LLC, Dundee, OR; Northwest Hazelnut Co., Hubbard, OR; Hazelnut Growers of Oregon, Cornelius, OR; Willamette Filbert Growers, Newberg, OR; Evergreen Orchards, McMinnville, OR; and Evonuk Orchards, Eugene, OR.

In today's Federal Register the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) issued a final rule confirming that the Census Bureau's Automated Export System (AES) will be used to collect data on exports of U.S. Munitions List (USML)
articles pursuant to the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).

Labels: DDTC

The WTO Secretariat reported today that in the period January 1 to June 30 2003, 18 WTO Members initiated 79 anti-dumping investigations on exports from a total of 30 different countries. This represents a significant decline from the corresponding period of 2002, during which 17 WTO Members had initiated 149 anti-dumping investigations.

The United States initiated the most investigations during the first half of 2003 (16), a decline from the 22 investigations it had initiated during the first half of 2002. India had the second highest number of initiations (12) during the first semester of 2003, down from 25 investigations initiated during the corresponding period in 2002. China reported 11 initiations, while other Members reported 6 or fewer initiations each.

ITC Preliminary Affirmative Injury Determination on Light-Walled Rectangular Pipe from Turkey and Mexico

Today, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determined by a vote of 5-0 that there is a reasonable indication that a U.S. industry is materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of imports of light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Mexico and Turkey.

As a result of the Commission's affirmative determination, the Department of Commerce will continue to conduct its antidumping investigation of imports of light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Mexico and Turkey, with its preliminary determination due on or about February 16, 2004. For more information see the ITC's press release.

USA*Engage announces opposition to legislation recently introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen that would “enhance” U.S. unilateral sanctions on Iran and Libya.

Today the U.S. Census Bureau issued in the Federal Register an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to announce and to solicit comments on the Census Bureau's intent to propose a rule that would make mandatory the filing of all export shipments requiring Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) information on the Automated Export System (AES)/AESDirect.

Census also requests comment on its intention, subject to agreement with the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal agencies participating in the AES, to modify the AES Option 4 post-departure filing program. Written comments on the proposed changes must be submitted to Census by November 21, 2003.

The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently issued a comprehensive report containing an overview of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed by financial institutions, money services business, casinos and by the securities industry.

Labels: FinCen