U.S. Customs and Border Protection plans to establish two more Centers for Excellence and Expertise (CEEs) by the end of FY 2012, and five more after that by the end of FY 2013, CBP said in an updated "Trade Transformation" document. CBP said it is planning to establish a center for Automotive and Aerospace in Detroit and a Petroleum, Natural Gas and Minerals center in Houston.
Tim Warren
Timothy Warren is Executive Managing Editor of Communications Daily. He previously led the International Trade Today editorial team from the time it was purchased by Warren Communications News in 2012 through the launch of Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. Tim is a 2005 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) are moving forward on several pieces of the U.S.-Canada Beyond the Border Action Plan for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness, such as increasing benefits to NEXUS members, streamlining the NEXUS membership renewal process and launching a plan to increase NEXUS membership, they said May 8.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted a record of changes since April 24 to the ACE ABI CATAIR (Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements). The only changes made were edits in paragraph 6 under Check-Digit Computation section in Appendix E. The change record is (here). Appendix E is (here). The full CATAIR is (here).
A fiscal year 2013 House Homeland Security Appropriations Bill approved by an appropriations subcommittee May 9, 2012 would provide $39.1 billion in discretionary funding for DHS, a decrease of $484 million below last year’s level and a decrease of $393 million below the President’s request. However, the measure would increase CBP funding by almost $10 million compared to the FY2012 funding if approved, said a committee press release.
This summary report highlights the most active textile and apparel tariff preference levels from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s April 30, 2012, “Quota Weekly Commodity Status Report.” It also lists the TRQ commodities on CBP’s weekly May 7, 2012 “TRQ/TPL Threshold to Fill List.”1
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is working in the Asia-Pacific region to increase supply chain security there, DHS Office of International Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Koumans said during testimony May 8, 2012. He also lauded a number of existing programs said to have helped the trade relationship between the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region. Koumans spoke before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Transportation Security during a hearing on “Building Secure Partnerships in Travel, Commerce, and Trade with the Asia-Pacific Region.”
Meredith Broadbent, nominee for commissioner on the International Trade Commission, pointed to her past experience in Congress and as a negotiator at the USTR as qualifications to serve as commissioner in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee May 8, 3012. Broadbent is nominated for a term on the ITC expiring June 16, 2017.
The Obama Administration voiced concern with H.R. 5326, the 2013 Commerce, Justice, and Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for reducing funding levels for several agencies, some of which are trade-related. If the President were presented with H.R. 5326, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill, a press release said.
Direct Resource Inc. has agreed to pay the government $450,000 to resolve allegations that the company falsely claimed payment in violation of the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), which prohibits the sale of products to federal agencies from countries that do not have a reciprocal trade agreement with the United States, the Justice Department said May 8, 2012.