U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Now in Force!
May 15, 2012
International Trade Administration / www.trade.gov
Today more than 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products to Colombia become duty-free as part of the U.S. – Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement. This includes agricultural and construction equipment, building products, aircraft and parts, fertilizers, information technology equipment, medical scientific equipment, and wood. Also, more than half of U.S. exports of agricultural commodities to Colombia become duty-free, including wheat, barley, soybeans, high-quality beef, bacon, and almost all fruit and vegetable products.
The agreement also provides significant new access to Colombia’s $180 billion services market, supporting increased opportunities for U.S. service providers. For example, Colombia agreed to eliminate measures that prevented firms from hiring U.S. professionals, and to phase-out market restrictions in cable television.
Prior to the enactment of this agreement, the average tariff that U.S. manufactured goods faced entering Colombia was 10.8 percent. With entry into force today, Colombia’s average tariff rate for manufactured goods from the United States has been reduced to 4 percent.
Colombia Snapshot
Colombia’s 2012 real GDP growth is forecasted at 4.7 percent by the IMF’s World Economic Outlook, remaining around 4.5 percent through 2017.
Colombia’s demand for imports has soared since 2001. Colombia’s merchandise imports from the world have more than quadrupled over that period climbing from $12.8 billion in 2001 to $54.7 billion in 2011.
The United States remains the largest supplier to the Colombian market, with Colombian imports from the U.S. in 2011 totaling $13.7 billion, or one-quarter of Colombia’s imports.
Imports from the United States in 2011 were led by mineral fuels, machinery, aircraft and organic chemicals. Those four categories accounted for over half of Colombia’s imports from the U.S.
Other top Colombian import markets include China, Mexico and Brazil. The U.S. is the largest market for Colombia’s exports, representing nearly 40 percent of the Colombian export market. |
The impact of the tariff reductions of U.S. exports to Colombia will be immediate for many products; including recreational vehicles, like motorcycles and pleasure boats (Colombia’s average tariff on U.S. exports will be reduced from 13.7 percent to 5.4 percent today) and agricultural equipment, like tractors and harvesters (Colombia’s average tariff will be reduced from 10.8 percent to 3.1 percent today). This will make U.S. manufactured products much more competitive and could also potentially boost sales.
The economies of the United States and Colombia are largely complementary in terms of the goods each exports to the other. For example, Colombia is a large importer of grains from the United States while it exports a number of tropical fruits to our country. In addition, U.S. cotton, yarn and fabric exports to Colombia are used in many apparel items that Colombia exports to the United States.
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Facts about U.S. – Colombia Trade:
- Between 2001 and 2011 U.S. goods exports to Colombia quadrupled, growing from $3.6 billion in 2001 to $14.3 billion in 2011. U.S. goods exports in 2011 were 19 percent higher than the previous year.
- Colombia has grown from being the 33rd largest market for U.S. goods exports in 1991 to become the 22nd largest market in 2011.
- Manufactured goods represented 92 percent of U.S. goods exports to Colombia in 2011.
- Increasing exports to Colombia has benefits at the local level as well as the national. In 2011, more than half of U.S. States (26 total) reported merchandise export shipments to Colombia above $75 million.
- In 2011, the largest state exporters of merchandise to Colombia included Texas ($5.1 billion), Florida ($2.8 billion), Louisiana ($894 million), California ($534 million) and Illinois ($454 million).
- Houston and Miami are also major metropolitan area exporters to Colombia.
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The provisions of the agreement and the resulting tariff cuts present new opportunities for U.S. companies and give U.S. exporters an advantage over exporters from Colombia’s non-FTA partners. The International Trade Administration maintains a database that helps exporters monitor when tariffs on specific products go to zero. The FTA Tariff Tool currently has information relating to manufactured products.
U.S. - Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Instructions
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/trade_programs/international_agreements/free_trade/cotpa/cotpa_instructions.xml
Baltimore CBP Detects First Local Seed Discoveries
U.S. Customs & Border Protection / www.cbp.gov
Baltimore – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) botanists confirmed on May 7 that two weed seeds that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists discovered Jan. 27 at Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport in a traveler’s bag were the highly invasive Mimosa pigra, commonly known as Giant Sensitive Plant, and Mimosa diplotricha, commonly known as Giant False Sensitive Plant, both first ever discoveries at the Port of Baltimore.
The USDA classifies Mimosa pigra and Mimosa diplotricha as federal noxious weeds.
Giant Sensitive Plant is listed as one of the world’s 100 worst invasive species and is widely distributed in more than 51 countries around the globe. It forms dense, thorny impenetrable thickets, particularly in wet areas, and can interfere with irrigation and the recreational use of waterways.
Giant False Sensitive Plant is another extremely invasive species that can grow more than six feet tall and has large sharp spines. It is a pest of rubber, coconut, and sugarcane plantations.
“Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists are very good at detecting unwanted animal and plant pests,” said Frances B. Garcia, Acting CBP Port Director for the Area Port of Baltimore. “Discovering two First in Port pests at the same time is both a unique and significant accomplishment as well as a sobering warning of new potential agriculture threats.”
The weed seeds were discovered in a bag of cumin seed being carried by a passenger from India. CBP seized the contaminated cumin seed and forwarded specimens of the contaminants to a USDA- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) - Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) botanist for identification. The cumin seeds were then destroyed by incineration. 
CBP agriculture specialists work closely with USDA’s APHIS – PPQ to protect our nation’s agriculture industries against the introduction of invasive and destructive plant and animal pests.
CBP agriculture specialists have extensive training and experience in the biological sciences and agricultural inspection. On a typical day, they inspect tens of thousands of international air passengers, and air and sea cargoes nationally being imported to the United States and seize 4,291 prohibited meat, plant materials or animal products, including 454 insect pests.
Chairman Brady Announces Hearing on Supporting Economic Growth and Job Creation through Customs Trade Modernization, Facilitation, and Enforcement
Committee of Ways and Means/ www.waysandmeans.house.gov
Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) today announced a Subcommittee hearing to review customs operations administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The hearing will focus on efforts to enhance economic growth and job creation by facilitating legitimate trade, modernizing customs procedures, and enforcing U.S. Customs and trade laws. The hearing will help the Committee develop customs reauthorization legislation. The hearing will take place on Thursday, May 17, 2012, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be heard from invited witnesses only. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the subcommittee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
The Committee last conducted a comprehensive review of the structure and resources of CBP and ICE from a commercial operations and customs enforcement perspective in May 2010. Since that time, there has been growing concern that, in particular, existing efforts to modernize trade functions, facilitate legitimate trade, and enforce customs laws may not be keeping pace with the growing volumes of trade.
CBP has been implementing several programs to automate trade, improve compliance, and identify shipments that violate U.S. laws. In addition, in working with CBP, the trade community has made large investments in international supply chains through advance submissions of cargo data and “partnership” programs between government and business. This hearing will explore how these enhanced targeting and screening tools can be improved to reduce costs, smooth movements of legitimate trade by trusted partners, and increase compliance with the customs and trade laws of the United States.
With respect to enforcement of traditional customs laws and revenue collection, more enforcement-related training and other measures may be needed to ensure CBP can effectively address fraudulent practices that circumvent U.S. laws, including in the areas of antidumping and countervailing duty collection, intellectual property rights enforcement, and textile enforcement. This hearing will explore how CBP manages its resources and whether any structural or other changes are needed to ensure that U.S. customs and trade laws are enforced.
In announcing this hearing, Chairman Brady said, “Trade is vital to our economic engine, creating jobs and lifting wages here at home. Today, more than 50 million U.S. workers are employed by companies that engage in international trade, and U.S. trade represents over 30 percent of U.S. GDP. Streamlining legitimate trade is an essential component to our competitiveness in the global marketplace. This hearing will explore how to allocate resources and develop models so that we can move the ever-increasing volume of legitimate trade more efficiently, while effectively filtering out trade that doesn’t comply with our laws.”
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
To meet the challenge of effectively and efficiently processing the volume and increasing complexity of trade in the future, CBP’s structure, policies, operations, and modernization must support its trade facilitation and commercial enforcement functions. This hearing will examine the following topics:
- Modernizing: Modernizing CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is critical to supporting the increase in import volume and the successful pre-screening of cargo. Complementing ACE is the International Trade Data System (ITDS), the window through which 48 government agencies with border responsibilities must function electronically and seamlessly. Together, these systems will allow CBP and other agencies to process goods more quickly and cost effectively, as well as collect and use trade data. The hearing will focus on what is needed to process all agency requirements at the border in the face of the ever-increasing volume of imports.
- Streamlining: CBP must find new models to manage the importing process by streamlining the flow of legitimate trade and providing benefits through a risk-based approach. CBP’s advance cargo data initiatives and industry partnership programs must work together to process legitimate trade. The Subcommittee will explore, among other things, how CBP can use an account management summary processing approach as opposed to a shipment-by-shipment approach to facilitate trade by known and established industry partners, increasing compliance by allowing more focus on shipments posing greater risk.
- Enforcing: Revenue collection and trade enforcement activities are critically important missions for CBP and ICE. While the overwhelming majority of trade is compliant with U.S. law, the agencies face increasing challenges in revenue collection and customs enforcement as the sophistication of those who seek to evade our laws increases. The hearing will examine whether these agencies are meeting this challenge.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit for the hearing record must follow the appropriate link on the hearing page of the Committee website and complete the informational forms. From the Committee homepage, http://waysandmeans.house.gov, select “Hearings”. Select the hearing for which you would like to submit, and click on the link entitled, “Click here to provide a submission for the record.” Once you have followed the online instructions, submit all requested information. ATTACH your submission as a Word or WordPerfect document, in compliance with the formatting requirements listed below, by close of business, Thursday, May 31, 2012. Finally, please note that due to the change in House mail policy, the U.S. Capitol Police will refuse sealed-package deliveries to all House Office Buildings. For questions, or if you encounter technical problems, please call (202) 225-1721 or (202) 225-3625.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
The Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record. As always, submissions will be included in the record according to the discretion of the Committee. The Committee will not alter the content of your submission, but we reserve the right to format it according to our guidelines. Any submission provided to the Committee by a witness, any supplementary materials submitted for the printed record, and any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any submission or supplementary item not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
- All submissions and supplementary materials must be provided in Word or WordPerfect format and MUST NOT exceed a total of 10 pages, including attachments. Witnesses and submitters are advised that the Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
- Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
- All submissions must include a list of all clients, persons and/or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears. A supplemental sheet must accompany each submission listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers of each witness.
The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special accommodation needs in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.
CBP Seizes Yak Skulls at SeaTac International Airport
U.S. Customs & Border Protection / www.cbp.gov
Seattle — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists seized a shipment of yak skulls on April 30, 2012 at SeaTac International Airport.
While sniffing passenger baggage from a flight arriving from Japan, CBP agriculture detector canine “Woody” alerted to a large duffle bag. Canines trained to detect agriculture items are an integral part of the agriculture inspection program. Beagles, like Woody, and breeds such as Labradors are selected for use by CBP because of their strong sense of smell and their gentle nature with people. Their keen ability to sniff out meats, fruits, and other prohibited agriculture items without the need to open luggage reduces passenger delays while ensuring that food and agriculture items that could harbor exotic plant pests and foreign animal diseases are detected.
Upon inspection of the bag alerted to by Woody, four yak skulls were discovered. The yak, Bos grunniens, is a large long-haired wild or domesticated ox native to Tibet and adjacent high elevation areas of central Asia. The owner of the duffle bag stated that he had found two of the skulls while hiking in Tibet and purchased the other two in a nearby village store. The two skulls found while hiking still had dried hide and flesh attached. The skulls were seized and ultimately destroyed to prevent the introduction of animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease into the United States.
According to USDA, foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle and swine that has been eradicated in the United States since 1929. This disease causes the infected animals to have fevers and blister-like lesions over its body, resulting in a severe loss in meat and milk production. Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Europe have spread quickly and resulted in the loss of millions of cattle and billions of dollars in economic loss. A foot-and-mouth outbreak in the United States could devastate the U.S. livestock industry with the potential for millions of livestock being destroyed.
Travel Advisory
Victoria Day 2012 Holiday Weekend in Canada
Pembina, N.D. — Victoria Day (Monday, May 21) unofficially marks the end of the winter season and, thus the beginning of summer. Border traffic volumes are expected to be greatly increased during this holiday weekend and U.S. Customs and Border Protection is reminding all travelers planning trips across the border into the United States to make sure they have their proper documents.
CBP strongly encourages travelers to obtain a radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled travel document such as a U.S. Passport Card, Enhanced Driver’s License/Enhanced Identification Card or Trusted Traveler Program card (NEXUS, SENTRI, Global Entry or FAST/EXPRES) to expedite their entry and make crossing the border more efficient.
Additionally, all travelers are reminded of a few simple steps they can employ to cross the border. Plan your trip and allow extra time for crossing the border. Review the “Know Before You Go” tip sheet at the website attached. ( www.cbp.gov ) Wait times for the ports of International Falls, Minnesota and Pembina, North Dakota can be monitored at the website attached. ( Wait Times ) Avoid peak travel times when at all possible. The heaviest traffic periods are typically between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
CBP officials continually monitor traffic and border crossing times at area ports of entry and fully staff all inspection lanes during peak periods.
The United States has been and continues to be a welcoming nation. U.S. Customs and Border Protection not only protects U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents in the country but also wants to ensure the safety of our international travelers who come to visit, study and conduct legitimate business in our country.