USITC RELEASES - The Year in Trade 2013
U.S. International Trade Commission /
http://www.usitc.gov/press_room/news_release/2014/er0731mm1.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) today released The Year in Trade 2013, its annual overview of the previous year's trade-related activities.
The USITC's The Year in Trade is one of the government's most comprehensive reports of U.S. trade-related activities, covering major multilateral, regional, and bilateral developments. The publication reviews U.S. international trade laws and actions under these laws, activities of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and developments regarding U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs), FTA negotiations, and U.S. bilateral trade relations with major trading partners in 2013.
The Year in Trade 2013 includes complete listings of antidumping, countervailing duty, safeguard, intellectual property rights infringement, and section 301 cases undertaken by the U.S. government in 2013. In addition, the 2013 report covers:
- the operation of U.S. trade preference programs, including the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Andean Trade Preference Act, and the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, including initiatives for Haiti;
- significant activities in the WTO, including dispute settlement decisions; the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum;
- developments regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement, other U.S. FTAs, and negotiations regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and
- bilateral trade issues with major U.S. trading partners-the European Union, Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Brazil, Taiwan, and India.
The report also provides an overview of U.S. trade in goods and services during 2013. Statistical tables highlight U.S. bilateral trade with major trading partners and trade under U.S. trade preference programs.
Complementing the release of the 65th edition of the report are a series of dashboards in MS Excel available online that present U.S. merchandise trade data in an interactive format. Readers of The Year in Trade 2013 will be able to conduct further analysis of U.S. merchandise trade with specific trading partners and U.S. trade under specific trade preference programs and FTAs using these dashboards, which are available on the Commission's website at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/dashboards/index.htm.
The Year in Trade 2013 (USITC Publication 4481, July 2013) will be posted on the USITC's Internet site at http://www.usitc.gov/research_and_analysis/commission_publication_4481.htm. The report also is expected to be available at federal depository libraries in the United States and at offices of the U.S. Information Agency abroad.
CBP Announces Closing Date for Port of Jamieson Line
U.S. Customs & Border Protection/ http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/2014-07-30-000000/cbp-announces-closing-date-port-jamieson-line
JAMIESON, N.Y. — Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announces that the Jamieson Line will permanently close on August 21, 2014. The announcement, which was published in the Federal Register Notice on July 22, is part of CBP’s continuing program to more efficiently utilize its personnel, facilities and resources, and to provide better service to carriers, importers, and the general public. Canada Border Services Agency also closed the port of Chemin Jamieson, Quebec on April 1, 2011, to all northbound traffic.
The Department of Homeland Security and CBP decided to close the port after analyzing comments made by the public on the Federal Register Notice, 77 FR 58782, published September 24, 2012, proposing the permanent closure of Jamieson Line.
CBP received nine comments in response to the Federal Register Notice, three supporting the proposed closure and six opposed. In making the decision, CBP evaluated the port’s total annual operating costs, annual crossing average for commercial and passenger vehicles, proximity to alternate ports of entry, and the public comments.
After the closure of Jamieson Line, vehicles will be able to enter the U.S. from Quebec through the ports of Chateaugay, N.Y. and Trout River, N.Y.
The port of Chateaugay is approximately 6 miles east of Jamieson Line and is available to all passenger vehicles and pedestrians. Trout River is available to all passenger vehicles and commercial trucks and is approximately 8 miles west of Jamieson Line.
Baltimore CBP Intercepts First in Port Caterpillar in Jamaican Passenger's Baggage
U.S. Customs & Border Protection / http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/2014-07-25-000000/baltimore-cbp-intercepts-first-port-caterpillar
BALTIMORE – A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) entomologist confirmed Thursday that U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) agriculture specialists at Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport discovered a new pest in the Baltimore area when they intercepted a Chrysauginae (Pyralidae), which is a type of caterpillar, while inspecting sour sop leaves found in a passenger’s luggage on November 14.
Caterpillars can pose a significant agriculture threat because they feed on a wide variety of important agriculture crops. Infestation can lead to a decrease in productivity and quality of crops, which can result in significant economic loss. When bacteria and fungi enter the injury caused by the feeding caterpillars indirect effects such as rotting or early dropping of fruits can occur.
"CBP agriculture specialists are very good at detecting foreign invasive plants and plant pests,” said Dianna Bowman CBP Area Port Director for the Port of Baltimore. “This discovery highlights the importance of the work they do, part of which is protecting the U.S. agriculture industry.”
The caterpillar was discovered in tea bush leaves carried by a passenger arriving from Jamaica. CBP seized the infested sour sop leaves and forwarded a specimen to a USDA- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) - Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) entomologist for identification. The remaining sour sop leaves were then destroyed by incineration.
CBP agriculture specialists work closely with USDA’s, APHIS, PPQ to protect our nation’s agriculture resources against the introduction of foreign plant pests and animal diseases.
Please visit the USDA's APHIS PPQ website for more on their plant protection program.
CBP agriculture specialists have extensive training and experience in the biological sciences and agricultural inspection. On a typical day nationally, they inspect almost 1 million people as well as air and sea cargoes imported to the United States and seize 4,379 prohibited meat, plant materials or animal products, including 440 insect pests.
ITA: PRESS RELEASES
International Trade Administration / http://www.trade.gov/press/press-releases/
07/25/2014 Commerce Preliminarily Finds Dumping of Imports of Certain Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Products from China and Taiwan
07/25/2014 Commerce Finds Dumping of Imports of Ferrosilicon from Venezuela and No Dumping of Imports of Ferrosilicon from the Russian Federation
07/17/2014 Commerce Finds Dumping of Imports of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel From Germany, Japan, and Poland
07/17/2014 Commerce Preliminarily Finds Dumping of Imports of Calcium Hypochlorite from China
USITC: News Releases and New Documents
US International Trade Commission / http://www.usitc.gov/?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
Antique Company President Charged with Smuggling Wildlife Worth More Than $500,000
Canadian antiques dealer Xiao Ju Guan, aka Tony Guan, 39, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan today for conspiring to smuggle wildlife, including rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and coral, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Sam Hirsch for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York and Director Dan Ashe of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS).
Guan, the president and owner of an antiques business in Richmond, British Columbia, was arrested on March 29, 2014, after flying from Vancouver to New York and purchasing two endangered black rhinoceros horns from undercover special agents with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at a storage facility in the Bronx. After purchasing the horns in a storage pod, Guan had the undercover agents drive him and a female accomplice acting as his interpreter to a nearby express mail store where he mailed the horns to an address in Point Roberts, Washington, less than a mile from the Canadian border and 17 miles from his business. Guan labeled the box of black rhino horns as containing “handicrafts” worth $200, even though he had just paid $45,000 for them. Guan indicated that he had people who could drive the horns across the border and that he had done so many times before.
Guan and his co-conspirators allegedly smuggled more than $500,000 of rhino horns and sculptures made from elephant ivory and coral from various U.S. auction houses to Canada by the same method or by having packages mailed directly to Canada with false paperwork and without the required declaration or permits. One part of the criminal scheme was to falsely describe the wildlife in order to conceal Guan’s wildlife smuggling. In the case of a rhino horn purchased in Florida, the Customs paperwork claimed it was a “Wooden Horn” worth $200.
At the same time that Guan was being arrested in New York, wildlife enforcement officers with Environment Canada executed a search warrant at Guan’s antique business in Canada. Environment Canada and Justice Canada are working cooperatively with U.S. investigators and prosecutors. The Guan case is part of “Operation Crash,” a U.S. Fish & Wildlife and Justice Department crackdown on illegal trafficking in rhinoceros horns.
“Illegal wildlife trafficking is a multibillion-dollar business that must be stopped,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Hirsch. “The Justice Department is working vigorously to uphold the laws designed to protect rhinos and elephants and other threatened species from extinction and is working alongside our international partners to bring black-market wildlife traders to justice. We are also very grateful here for the assistance from Canadian authorities.”
“There is an ever-expanding black market for objects made from endangered species that fuels the devastating and senseless slaughter of noble animals,” said U.S. Attorney Bharara. “The charges levied today are designed to deal a heavy blow to those that are deliberately profiting from the trade in rare and endangered species. ”
“As this case illustrates, the United States plays a key role in the illegal wildlife trade – often as the source of, or transit country for, poached and smuggled wildlife products headed elsewhere in the world,” said Director Ashe. “This makes coordination vital with our international partners as we work together to halt the slaughter of rhinos, elephants and many other imperiled species. We have a long history of collaboration with Environment Canada on wildlife trafficking and other issues, and we appreciate the invaluable assistance they’ve provided in this case.”
Rhinoceros are an herbivore species of prehistoric origin and one of the largest remaining mega-fauna on earth. They have no known predators other than humans. All species of rhinoceros are protected under U.S. and international law. Since 1976, trade in rhinoceros horn has been regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty signed by over 170 countries around the world to protect fish, wildlife and plants that are or may become imperiled due to the demands of international markets.
Operation Crash is a continuing investigation by the Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in coordination with the Department of Justice. A “crash” is the term for a herd of rhinoceros. Operation Crash is an ongoing effort to detect, deter and prosecute those engaged in the illegal killing of rhinoceros and the unlawful trafficking of rhinoceros horns. The Guan case was investigated by FWS, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Complex Frauds Unit and the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section with assistance from Environment Canada’s Wildlife Enforcement Directorate. Assistant U.S. Attorney Janis M. Echenberg and Senior Counsel Richard A. Udell of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section are in charge of the prosecution.
An indictment is an allegation based upon a finding of probable cause. A defendant is presumed innocent until convicted. If convicted, Guan faces up to five years in prison for the conspiracy and wildlife charges and up to ten years in prison for the crime of smuggling. Guan could be fined up to $200,000 per count or up to twice the gross gain from the criminal conduct.
Press Release – FAA Seeks $12 million Civil Penalty Against Southwest Airlines
Federal Aviation Administration / http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=16754
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing a $12 million civil penalty against Southwest Airlines for failing to comply with Federal Aviation Regulations in three separate enforcement cases related to repairs on Boeing 737 jetliners operated by the Dallas-based airline.
The FAA alleges that beginning in 2006, Southwest conducted so-called “extreme makeover” alterations to eliminate potential cracking of the aluminum skin on 44 jetliners. The FAA conducted an investigation that included both the airline and its contractor, Aviation Technical Services, Inc., (ATS) of Everett, Wash. Investigators determined that ATS failed to follow proper procedures for replacing the fuselage skins on these aircraft. FAA investigators also determined that ATS failed to follow required procedures for placing the airplanes on jacks and stabilizing them. All of the work was done under the supervision of Southwest Airlines, which was responsible for ensuring that procedures were properly followed.
Southwest returned the jetliners to service and operated them when they were not in compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations, the FAA alleges. The regulatory violations charged involve numerous flights that occurred in 2009 after the FAA put the airline on notice that these aircraft were not in compliance with either FAA Airworthiness Directives or alternate, FAA-approved methods of complying with the directives. The FAA later approved the repairs after the airline provided proper documentation that the repairs met safety standards.
“Safety is our top priority, and that means holding airlines responsible for the repairs their contractors undertake,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Everyone has a role to play and a responsibility to ensure the safety of our transportation system.”
During its investigation, the FAA found that ATS workers applied sealant beneath the new skin panels but did not install fasteners in all of the rivet holes during the timeframe for the sealant to be effective. This could have resulted in gaps between the skin and the surface to which it was being mounted. Such gaps could allow moisture to penetrate the skin and lead to corrosion. As a result of the improper repairs, these airplanes did not comply with Federal Aviation Regulations.
The FAA also alleges that ATS personnel failed to follow requirements to properly place these airplanes on jacks and shore them up while the work was being performed. If a plane is shored improperly during skin replacement, the airframe could shift and lead to subsequent problems with the new skin.
In the third case, the FAA alleges that Southwest Airlines failed to properly install a ground wire on water drain masts on two of its Boeing 737s in response to an FAA Airworthiness Directive addressing lightning strikes on these components. As a result, the aircraft were not in compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations. The airplanes were each operated on more than 20 passenger flights after Southwest Airlines became aware of the discrepancies but before the airline corrected the problem.
“The FAA views maintenance very seriously, and it will not hesitate to take action against companies that fail to follow regulations,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.
Southwest Airlines has 30 days from the receipt of the FAA’s Civil Penalty letter to respond to the allegations.