Fanali mtb

Global Steel Crisis Examined.  U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker co-chaired a two-day hearing last week on the global steel crisis, where U.S. lawmakers called for a better way to prevent foreign suppliers from flooding the U.S. market with subsidized steel.  While chairing the first day, Ambassador Froman stated that the Obama Administration is pursuing options to help the U.S. steel sector, including a possible multilateral agreement to rein in global production.  USTR released a fact sheet on excess steel capacity, available here.MTB Momentum.  House Ways & Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert (R-Washington) held a hearing on 14 April examining the House MTB reform bill released the day before.  Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hatch, Ranking Member Wyden and six other Senators introduced a companion MTB reform measure (S. 2794) a day after the House.  The bill, the American … [Read more...] about Global Steel, House MTB Reform Bill, Iran Sanctions: Trade Talk – Week in Review (11-15 April 2016)

This morning, in the Federal Register, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) announced that it will begin accepting petitions for duty-relief in the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB). Petitions will be accepted until 5:15 p.m. Eastern time on December 12, 2016. The USITC will only accept petitions submitted electronically via its portal, the MTB Petition System (MTBPS).As discussed in our May 25, 2016 post, petitions for duty suspensions may only be filed by members of the public, or their legal representative, who can demonstrate that they are a likely beneficiary of the duty suspension or reduction. The ITC will then manage a 45-day notice and comment period on whether individual requests threaten U.S. domestic producers. Following this review, the ITC will send Congress a report suggesting products for inclusion in a final MTB to amend Chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. We anticipate the amendments to Chapter 99 will take effect beginning in … [Read more...] about ITC Will Begin Accepting MTB Petitions

MTB Developments – House Acts on the Reform Bill; Senate Fails to Act.   The House passed its MTB reform bill on 27 April.  The Senate attempted to “hotline” the House-passed MTB reform bill on Thursday, a procedure used to test whether there are any objections to passing a bill under unanimous consent.  However, the Senate failed to act on the House-passed measure before concluding work that evening and joining the House in recess.TTIP Developments – 13th Round of Negotiations Concludes.  There were no significant breakthroughs reported from the recent TTIP negotiations in New York this week, however, both sides also sought to reaffirm intentions to try and conclude the negotiations by the end of the year.  Reports on Friday indicated that while the European Commission had previously floated a Geographical Index (GI) list comprised of approximately 200 items, the Commission scaled back the initial list to approximately 50 … [Read more...] about Trade Talk – 25-29 April 2016: MTB Developments, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Reform Bill

The House Ways and Means Committee marked up a bill (H.R. 4923) last Wednesday that would reform the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) process.  The full House will consider the measure this Wednesday under suspension of the rules, which is reserved for non-controversial bills.  The House will also consider the Senate-passed version of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (S. 1890) on Wednesday after the House Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced the measure last week.TTIP Developments – 13th Round of Negotiations Commences.  U.S. and EU negotiators will meet this week in New York City for the latest round of TTIP negotiations, where they will attempt to consolidate some proposed texts.  While neither side has submitted language on regulatory cooperation yet, reports indicate negotiators may focus on formulating a structure for the text across nine regulatory categories:  autos, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, chemicals, textiles, … [Read more...] about TTIP Developments, MTB Developments – Trade Talk: Week in Review (18-22 April 2016)

With the end of July approaching, Congress has finally turned some of its attention to addressing overdue international trade matters. However, it may be too late to prevent at least a temporary disruption to importers who are taking advantage of duty savings by using the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which is currently set to expire on July 31, 2013.GSP is a preferential trade program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world. It provides for duty-free treatment of certain merchandise that is produced and exported from select beneficiary developing countries (BDCs). In 2012, the program was responsible for the duty-free entry of nearly $20 billion in eligible goods from 127 beneficiary developing countries. In order to be eligible for duty-free treatment under GSP, qualifying goods must: (1) consist of at least 35 percent by value of local BDC content; and (2) be directly shipped from the BDC to the United States.Since its introduction in 1974, the GSP … [Read more...] about Bills Renewing Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and Tariff Suspensions Are Racing Against the Clock