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Customhouse Brokers
International Freight Forwarders
 THE C-AIR TIMES
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C-Air Customhouse Brokers
181 S. Franklin Avenue - Suite #502
Valley Stream, NY 11581
Ph.: 516-394-0400
Fx.: 516-394-0471
www.c-air.com |
ISSUE #130 - 9/03/10 |
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All prior Issues of The C-Air Times can be found at the end this current Issue in the Newsletter Section of our website:
IN THIS ISSUE :
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There is no excellence without labor. One cannot dream oneself into either usefulness or happiness.
~ Liberty Hyde Bailey
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently called on the Obama administration to extend new trade preferences to Pakistan in the wake of the devastation caused by historic floods in that country. U.S. textile industry groups, however, warned that such a move could cause the loss of domestic jobs.
In an Aug. 25 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce expressed its support for legislation to create reconstruction opportunity zones in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Under legislation approved by the House in 2009 and supported by President Obama, certain goods produced in an ROZ would received preferential duty treatment when imported into the U.S. However, the Chamber, along with various other trade associations, say this program should be expanded in order to provide more meaningful benefits. Among other things, these groups recommend that:
• duty-free treatment should be extended to all textile and apparel products produced in the ROZs, especially cotton trousers and shirts, which account for more than 65% of Pakistan’s apparel exports to the U.S.;
• the areas eligible to use the ROZ program should be expanded from border regions that are experiencing “intense conflict” to areas that are more capable of producing the covered goods and more likely to attract foreign investment; and
• the labor provisions of the bill, which could serve as a disincentive for companies to use the ROZ program and may prove unworkable in some instances, should be amended.
The Chamber letter asserts that adding more apparel products to the ROZ duty preferences “would not have a negative impact on U.S. textile producers as U.S. imports from Pakistan account for a mere 3.7 percent of total U.S. imports of these products.” A Sept. 1 letter to Kirk and Clinton from six major U.S. textile associations, however, disputes that point, claiming that such an expansion “would cause irreparable damage to the U.S. textile industry resulting in significant job losses.” This letter explains that Pakistan is “a textile and apparel exporting superpower” that is already the third-largest exporter of textiles and apparel to the U.S. by volume and the second-largest with respect to cotton products in particular. Granting duty-free treatment to textiles and apparel from Pakistan would undermine producers throughout Latin America that compete directly with Pakistan for U.S. market share as well as U.S. textile producers, which ship 70% of their yarn and fabric exports to trade preference partners in this region. In addition, such a step would “substantially undermine” trade preferences extended earlier this year to Haiti, which is also “a direct competitor in many of the product categories that Pakistan supplies to the U.S. market.”
New “First in the Nation” Pest Halted at LA/LB Seaport - USCBP
Los Angeles — U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists intercepted a “First in the Nation” destructive pest, this time on a shipment of fresh pineapples arriving from Costa Rica in a sea container.
On August 24, agriculture specialists assigned to the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport discovered the live specimen while conducting an inspection of a shipment of perishable pineapples. On August 26, entomologists from the United States Department of Agriculture identified the insect as Acrogonia nigriceps (Cicadellidae) and confirmed that the insect was a “First in the Nation”, a new pest never seen before in the United States.
Any insects from the Cicadellidae family, commonly known as leafhoppers, are significant pests in agriculture. They can cause severe damage and decrease yields on numerous cash crops including, grapes, potatoes, soybean and corn. |
“CBP’s agriculture specialists play a critical role in safeguarding the U.S. agriculture industry and the nation’s economy. This discovery attests to their expertise in detecting and preventing harmful pests from being introduced into the United States,” said Carlos Martel CBP acting director of field operations in Los Angeles.
This is the second “First in the Nation” interception in the last two months for CBP Los Angeles. On June 28, CBP agriculture specialists at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) discovered a “First in the Nation” specimen from the Aphids family while inspecting a shipment of fresh cut flowers arriving from South Africa.
In fiscal year 2009, agriculture specialists seized more than 1.5 million prohibited meat, plant materials or animal products, including 166,727 agricultural pests at ports of entry.
 Preliminary Commerce Investigation Finds Chinese Aluminum Imports Unfairly SubsidizedInternational Trade Administration
Department also finds China currency subsidy allegations do not meet legal requirements to initiate investigation
WASHINGTON – A preliminary determination by the Commerce Department’s Import Administration has found that $514 million of aluminum products imported from China in 2009 were unfairly subsidized. As a result of the preliminary determination, importers of Chinese aluminum extrusions will be required to post cash deposits or bonds at rates determined by the Import Administration. If Commerce makes a final determination that Chinese exporters or producers received an unfair subsidy under international law, and the U.S. International Trade Commission finds that domestic industry was harmed, those imports would be subject to countervailing duties (CVD).
The affirmative preliminary determination found that Chinese producers/exporters have received countervailable subsidies ranging from 6.18 to 137.65 percent. Commerce is currently scheduled to make its final determination in this case in November.
Countervailing duties are imposed after a detailed investigation determines that imports into the United States have been unfairly subsidized by foreign governments and are injuring domestic producers. U.S. industries can file petitions with Commerce asking for an investigation of illegal subsidies. Aluminum extrusions are shapes and forms produced via an extrusion process of aluminum alloys, generally used in construction applications, incorporated into window and door frames, and serving as parts for vehicles and furniture.
Also today, the Department of Commerce announced that two allegations before it that China’s currency practices constitute an unfair subsidy under U.S. countervailing duty law failed to meet the requirements for the initiation of an investigation. The currency allegations under review were made in the context of both the aluminum extrusions case as well as a CVD investigation of coated paper from China.
“Today’s currency decision was based on a careful evaluation of the specific legal arguments and evidence put before the department, in relation to the standards for the initiation of an investigation under the CVD law,” Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration Ronald K. Lorentzen said. “In these two cases, the Department has determined not to investigate whether the alleged undervaluation of China’s currency, the RMB or yuan, is a countervailable subsidy, because the allegations made by domestic producers do not meet the statutory standard for initiating an investigation under the requirement that benefits provided under China’s unified foreign exchange regime be specific to the enterprise or industries being investigated.”
In addition to today’s decisions, Commerce last week announced a package of 14 measures – especially focused on unfair import practices by non-market economies – that will strengthen trade enforcement and help keep U.S companies competitive. These steps support President Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI), which aims to double exports in the next five years and support the creation of several million new jobs. The proposed changes came in response to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke’s call to survey the agency’s current trade remedy practices in order to determine how the department could improve the effectiveness of its existing enforcement tools.
 President Issues New Executive Order Expanding North Korea Sanctions - Broker Power Inc.
On August 30, 2010, President Obama issued Executive Order 13551, which supplements EO 13382 and expands the scope of the national emergency declared in EO 13466 with respect to certain Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) sanctions.
Existing Sanctions Remain in Place, Additional Persons Blocked
EO 13551 leaves in place all existing sanctions imposed under EO 13466, and blocks the property and interests in property of persons listed in the Annex to EO 13551.
New Tools, Criteria for Designations
The new EO provides the U.S. with new tools to disrupt illicit economic activity by North Korea. EO 13551 provides criteria for designations of persons determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:
- to have, directly or indirectly, imported, exported, or reexported to, into, or from North Korea any arms or related material;
- to have, directly or indirectly, provided training, advice, or other services or assistance, or engaged in financial transactions, related to the manufacture, maintenance, or use of any arms or related materiel to be imported, exported, or reexported to, into, or from North Korea, or following their importation, exportation, or reexportation to, into, or from North Korea;
- to have, directly or indirectly, imported, exported, or reexported luxury goods to or into North Korea;
- to have, directly or indirectly, engaged in money laundering, the counterfeiting of goods or currency, bulk cash smuggling, narcotics trafficking, or other illicit economic activity that involves or supports the Government of North Korea or any senior official thereof;
- to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, certain activities or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to EO 13551;
- to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to EO 13551; or
- to have attempted to engage in any of certain activities described in EO 13551.
President’s letter to Congress on EO 13551is available here.
Treasury fact sheet on the EO 13551 is available here. |
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