The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) were listed as the top policy issues expected to have a positive impact on the clothing business, said respondents in a U.S. Fashion Industry Association survey. TPP, GSP and TPA, which would give Congressional pre-approval to the executive branch for trade agreement negotiations, were the only issues to garner a majority of responses saying that passage or renewal would positively impact business. Other areas of trade policy, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and customs reauthorization legislation were largely viewed as "Hard to say/Neutral" in the survey.
On Dec. 4 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The World Trade Organization (WTO) posted the following notices from Dec. 8-10 (may have to click twice on source documents for proper viewing):
The Government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices for January 17-19, 2012 (note that some may also be given separate headlines)
The Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX) has published its 2009-2011 biennial report to Congress appraising the threat to the U.S. from foreign economic collection and industrial espionage. The report finds that the pace of espionage activities against major U.S. corporations and government agencies is accelerating, with much of this activity appearing to originate in China and Russia.
The International Trade Commission announces the availability of its 2011 report, "Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade." The annual report presents a statistical overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the service sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.
The International Trade Administration has published its quarterly list of recently completed antidumping and countervailing duty scope rulings and anticircumvention determinations; terminated scope and anticircumvention inquiries; and pending scope inquiries and anticircumvention rulings.
The International Trade Commission has issued its report providing an overview of regional trends in Southeast Asia in the areas of economic integration, export competitiveness, and inbound investment for six of the 12 priority sectors identified in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) 2007 Economic Community Blueprint.
The Congressional Research Service has issued a report entitled “China and the United States -- A Comparison of Green Energy Programs and Policies.”
The People´s Bank of China has issued a 12 point Q&A on its decision to further reform the RMB (renminbi or yuan) exchange rate regime and increase the RMB exchange rate flexibility. Highlights of these 12 Q&As include the following: