International Trade Law News

The United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement went into on February 1, 2009.

In order to implement the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, the U.S. International Trade Commission has updated the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

The Rules of Origin of the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement are found in General Note 32 (starts on page 562 of the General Notes) and the special rate of duty column of the HTSUS has been updated to indicate the letters "PE" for products from Peru eligible for the preferential duty rates.

Labels: Free Trade Agreements

The U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement (officially known as the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement) will go into effect on February 1, 2009.

In Washington, DC, President Bush yesterday issued a proclamation to implement the free trade agreement and in Lima, Peruvian President Alan Garcia and Mercedes Aráoz Fernandez, Peru's Minister of Trade and Tourism, also signed the required proclamation to formally implement the free trade agreement.

In order to receive preferential treatment under the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, U.S. and Peruvian goods must qualify as originating as prescribed under the Rules of Origin section of the Agreement (Annex 4.1). The Rules of Origin for the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement are similar, but not identical, to rules of origin found in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement and the Central American-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).

The Rules of Origin for the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement can be found here (pdf) and will soon be published in the General Notes of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated and the appropriate changes will be made to the HTSUS in order to reflect the preferential duty rates for qualifying Peruvian products.

The U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement was signed on April 12, 2006. It was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on November 8, 2007 and by the U.S. Senate on December 4, 2007. President Bush signed the legislation implementing the Agreement on December 14, 2007.

Peru’s Congress passed this week modifications to earlier legislation on trade, health and the environment, in order to conform to and implement the terms of the free trade agreement.

Labels: Free Trade Agreements

President Bush today issued a Proclamation providing that the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) will enter into force for Costa Rica on January 1, 2009. Costa Rican products meeting the rules of origin of the CAFTA-DR that are entered into the U.S., or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 2009 will be eligible for preferential tariff treatment.

Costa Rica is the last country to implement the CAFTA-DR. CAFTA-DR entered into force for El Salvador on March 1, 2006, for Honduras and Nicaragua on April 1, 2006, for Guatemala on July 1, 2006, and for the Dominican Republic on March 1, 2007.

In October 2007, the voters of Costa Rica narrowly backed the free trade agreement in a national referendum.

No date has yet been set for implementation of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement, which is expected to go into effect some time in 2009.

Labels: Free Trade Agreements

“Trade negotiating authority is vital to the future of U.S. trade policy, no matter the outcome of the election in November,” said NFTC President Bill Reinsch, who unveiled the draft bill during a press roundtable at the NFTC this afternoon. “Regardless of whether we have a President Obama or a President McCain, the new Congress and the new Administration will have to have a trade policy and will have to grapple with what to do about the process for negotiating trade agreements. We are releasing our draft bill today to catalyze that deliberative process.”
A complete summary of the proposed bill can be found here here.

Labels: Free Trade Agreements, Trade Policy, Trade Promotion Authority

The National Council on International Trade Development is presenting a day-long seminar in Arlington, Virginia on May 7, 2008 entitled "Free Trade Agreements for U.S. Businesses: A Practical Seminar on how U.S. Free Trade Agreements Work".

The program will be led by Frank Reynolds, the well-known author of Free Trade Agreements for Americans and Incoterms for Americans and a internationally recognized speaker. Attendees will receive a copy of Free Trade Agreements for Americans, which contains useful and practical information on U.S. free trade agreements.

This program will provide useful and practical information to U.S. importers and exporters on the rules of origin of U.S. free trade agreements and other valuable information on determining if products qualify for free trade agreement benefits.

NCITD's Free Trade Agreements program will be held at the The Hilton Arlington, located at 950 North Stafford Street, Arlington, Virginia 22203.

The program fee is only $195 for NCITD members and $295 for non-members.

For more information on the program see the following link on the NCITD's website. A PDF brochure on the program can be found here.

Labels: Free Trade Agreements

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) last week introduced H.R. 5264, the Trade Preference Extension Act of 2008, a bill that would extend three trade preference programs scheduled to expire this year.

H.R. 5264 would would extend the following trade preference programs until September 30, 2010:

• Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) – Expires on February 29, 2008. ATPA was enacted in 1991 to combat drug production and trafficking in the Andean countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The program offers trade benefits to help these countries develop and strengthen legitimate industries. ATPA was expanded under the Trade Act of 2002 and is now called the Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act. ATPA provides duty-free access to U.S. markets for approximately 5,600 products.

• Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) – Expires on September 30, 2008. The following nineteen countries benefit from Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) : Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles,Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago.

• Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) – Expires on December 31, 2008. GSP provides preferential duty-free entry for more than 4,650 products from 143 designated beneficiary countries and territories. H.R. 5264 also addresses a number of issues with the textile provisions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the competitive need limitation waiver provisions of GSP.
  

The renewal of ATPA benefits is particularly important to Peru and Colombia, countries that the U.S. has entered into free trade agreements with. However, the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA), which was passed by both countries in 2007 will not take effect until both countries adopt the appropriate implementing regulations. While it has typically taken approximately eight months for the U.S. to implement most other free trade agreements after they were passed into law, reliable sources have indicated that the U.S.-Peru TPA will not take effect until January 1, 2009. The U.S. Congress has not yet passed the U.S.-Colombia FTA and prospects for its passage in Congress this year look dim . Renewing ATPA benefits for Bolivia and Ecuador have faced resistance in Congress because of the anti-U.S. actions both countries have taken in the past few years.

Labels: Free Trade Agreements, GSP

The World Customs Organization (WCO) is developing a database of preferential trade arrangements and related rules of origin. To assist the WCO in its development process, the WCO has prepared an online survey in order to obtain the the views of all interested parties and to ensure that the database is an effective resource for the trade community.

To take the short survey, click here.

Labels: Customs, Free Trade Agreements

The Politico, a Washington, DC-based newspaper and website which covers politics and lobbying, reports that the President's efforts to convince Congress to approve the Colombia, Panama and South Korea Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) faces serious resistance from the Democratic leadership.

The article notes that the following significant issues remain with all three FTAs:

Colombia - There is serious resistance due to concerns over violence against workers in Colombia and the need for Congress to overhaul the federal program that gives retraining and other benefits to workers displaced by trade (click here for more information on the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program).

Panama - The State Department and Congress have raised concerns after Pedro Miguel González Pinzón, who was indicted in the U.S. for killing a U.S. soldier, was elected to lead Panama's national assembly.

South Korea - Congress is unlikely to approve a FTA with South Korea until the country permits access to all types of U.S. beef. South Korea prohibited all U.S. beef imports when the first case of mad cow disease was found in the U.S. in 2003. In April 2007 Korea began permitting boneless beef from animals under 30 months of age. However, Korean imports of U.S. beef were suspended again in October 2007.

Labels: Free Trade Agreements

By a vote of 285-132, the U.S. House of Representatives today approved legislation to implement the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (H.R. 3668). The Senate is expected to consider and pass the agreement later this year. The roll call vote can be found here. The full text and a summary of the U.S.-Peru free trade agreement can be found on the USTR's website.

Labels: Free Trade Agreements