President Barack Obama aims to nominate Dean Garfield, Harold McGraw and Bob Stallman as members of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN). All three industry representatives currently sit on the committee. Garfield has served as president of the Information Technology Industry Council since 2008, and was first appointed to the committee in 2010. McGraw, also on the committee since 2010, is chairman of the McGraw-Hill Financial, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Emergency Committee for American Trade and the U.S. Council for International Business. He served as ACTPN chairman from 2012-2014. Stallman is president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, and was first appointed to the ACTPN in 2007.

The U.S. and India may "soon" be able to reach compromise on implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in remarks following two days of bilateral negotiations in Washington, D.C. India is committed to trade facilitation, but will continue to demand a change in agricultural subsidy rules, said Modi, while declining to discuss what World Trade Organization concession India prefers. In the lead-up to Modi’s visit, trade analysts said they did not expect the meetings to yield tangible outcomes on trade disagreements (see 14093002).

President Barack Obama announced on Sept. 25 plans to nominate 11 individuals to sit on the U.S. Trade Representative Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. The nominations include union leaders, as well as other industry representatives, many of whom already serve on the committee. Obama aims to nominate the following individuals:

President Barack Obama needs to hammer home the need to remove Indian non-tariff barriers for U.S. exports when the Indian head of government comes to Washington, D.C. in the coming days, business leaders said in a Sept. 25 letter. After taking office in May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet with Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Sept. 29 (here).

President Barack Obama signed into law the Continuing Appropriations Resolution 2015, H.J.Res.124 (here), on Sept. 19, following days of debate on the measure in the House and Senate. The law provides government funding through Dec. 11, authorizes the training and equiping of Syrian rebel groups and extends the Export-Import Bank charter through June 2015. Both chambers of Congress are now in recess through the mid-term elections in November.

President Barack Obama sent the nomination of Federal Maritime Commissioner Mario Cordero to the Senate on Sept. 18, the White House said in a statement. Senate approval would reappoint Cordero, the agency's chairman, as commissioner until 2019.

President Barack Obama will nominate David Abney as a member of the President’s Export Council, the White House said on Sept. 18. Abney has worked at UPS for more than 40 years, most recently serving as chief operating officer from 2007-14.

The Bureau of Industry and Security furthered its crackdown on Russian arms and weaponry traders on Sept. 12, as the Obama administration strapped another sanctions package on the Russian defense, financial and energy sectors (here). BIS added five Russian companies to its Entity List. The designations level license requirements, with a presumption of denial, for the export, reexport and foreign transfer of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Those companies are as follows:

The U.S. will join the European Union in imposing another round of Russian sanctions on Sept. 12, said President Barack Obama the day before in a statement. The measures will again target the Russian financial, energy and defense sectors. "We are implementing these new measures in light of Russia’s actions to further destabilize Ukraine over the last month, including through the presence of heavily armed Russian forces in eastern Ukraine," said Obama. "These measures will increase Russia’s political isolation as well as the economic costs to Russia, especially in areas of importance to President Putin and those close to him."

President Barack Obama sent to the Senate on Sept. 8 the nomination of Jeanne Davidson as a judge on the Court of International Trade, the White House said. Davidson currently serves as director of the International Trade Field Office in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division at the Justice Department, as well as the offices of Foreign Litigation and International Legal Assistance. Obama revealed his intent to nominate Davidson in mid-August (see 14081821).