The State Department, World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently issued the following travel warnings, travel alerts, country specific information sheets, and disease outbreak-related information:
The National Institute of Standards and Technology posts drafts and changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products which may be considered technical barriers to trade and are therefore required to be reported to the World Trade Organization, which distributes the information to WTO Member countries.
The Office of Textiles and Apparel has posted to its website monthly reports containing official July 2010 trade data from the Census Department for U.S. imports and exports of textiles and apparel.
On September 9, 2010, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that the Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) rose 0.4 percent in July from its June level, rising for the second consecutive month. The Freight TSI has risen 5.0 percent over the last 14 months, starting in June 2009. The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles, which are then combined into one index. The index measures the output of the for-hire freight transportation industry and consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.
U.S. Trade Representative Kirk discussed the benefits to the film and entertainment industry of intellectual property rights enforcement, negotiation of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), and the U.S.-Korea Free trade agreement at a tour of Paramount Studios in California on September 10, 2010.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing the initial year 2011 Assessment of Annual Needs for certain List I chemicals in accordance with the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act (CMEA) of 2005. The CMEA requires DEA to establish production quotas and import quotas for ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, and places additional regulatory controls upon the manufacture, distribution, importation, and exportation of the three List I chemicals. Comments are due by October 13, 2010.
The Census Bureau has released July 2010 statistics on wholesale trade: sales and inventories. Sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, were $350.1 billion, up 0.6 percent from the revised June level. July sales of durable goods were up 0.5 percent from last month. Sales of machinery, equipment, and supplies were up 3.3 percent from last month. Sales of nondurable goods were up 0.6 percent from last month.
The White House has posted Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans that individual government agencies plan to take to achieve the environmental, economic and energy goals called for in an October 2009 Executive Order. The plans prioritize actions to meet the EO's energy, water, and waste reduction targets.
After the Census Bureau's release of its July 2010 Trade in Goods and Services report showing that U.S. exports in July 2010 increased by 1.8 percent from their June level, while imports in July decreased 2.1 percent over June, Commerce Secretary Locke noted that “The increase in exports and narrowing of the trade deficit underline how critical exports are to our continued economic growth and why the Commerce Department and the Obama administration are working aggressively to achieve the goals of the National Export Initiative -- doubling U.S. exports in the next five years.”
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed rule that would restrict the use of cellular phones and other personal electronic devices by drivers of commercial motor vehicles.