Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker unveiled the next step of the National Export Initiative (NEI) during a May 13 event hosted by Atlantic Media. The initiative aims to help U.S. firms locate customers and identify markets abroad, while helping to finance export orders, said Pritzker. She said the administration would work with trade partners to adopt best practices that facilitate commerce. "For example, we’re holding more workshops for customs officials in Guatemala, Peru and the Dominican Republic," she said. Pritzker also reiterated the administration's commitment to complete the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) by 2016.

The Obama administration on May 8 published an updated, interagency export screening list. The list consolidates into one spreadsheet the individuals and entities flagged by the Departments of Commerce, State and the Treasury. The document includes the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Denied Persons List, Unverified List and Entity List. The document also includes Directorate of Defense Trade Control’s Arms Export Control Act Debarred List, and the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List.

The World Trade Organization environmental goods agreement could be “critically important” for the growth of U.S. industry and the export of clean energy products, said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz during an Export-Import Bank Annual Conference panel on April 25. The markets for environmentally friendly products are currently forming across the globe and will likely take multiple decades to emerge, said Moniz. The U.S. aims to formally begin negotiations by June on the agreement that could eliminate or reduce tariffs on a wide range of energy products (see 14041724).

The Automated Export System (AES) will on April 27 restore the following AES validations to AES Fatal Errors, after temporarily reclassifying them as AES Warning Error Messages:

Automated Export System Direct (AESDirect) user managers and account administrators will as of April 28 no longer be able to file, view and manage Electronic Export Information (EEI), unless they create a second username strictly for viewing or filing EEI, said the Census Bureau. The change is in line with Census Bureau and Commerce Department security policy, said a Census release.

The National Association of Manufacturers launched an “Exporters for Ex-Im” blog series on April 22 with its initial article focusing on the Export-Import Bank’s financing of Pennsylvania-based manufacturer, Wallquest. The bank’s charter faces expiration at the end of the fiscal year, but some Republicans oppose renewal (see 14041028). Through Ex-Im Bank financing, Wallquest increased its staff from 80 employees in 2008 to 185 employees in 2012, and now sells product to 61 countries, said the blog. The Ex-Im Bank is the official U.S. government credit agency.

The Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank will hold a public meeting on April 30 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Ex-Im Bank headquarters in Washington D.C. The committee will advise the Ex-Im Bank Board of Directors on expansion of loan, guarantee, and insurance programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as methods to increase U.S. commercial bank support for Sub-Saharan African trade. Authorization for the credit agency expires at the end of the fiscal year (see 14041028).

The AESPCLink 9.0 and AESPCLink Network Edition 4.0 upgrades are now available for exporters, said the Census Bureau on April 16. The new versions will support the informed compliance period that lasts through Oct. 2 for Foreign Trade Regulations changes in the Automated Export System (AES). The changes include new fields for Ultimate Consignee Type and License Value, along with the ability to file 7-character foreign trade zone numbers. Following the conclusion of the informed compliance period, these new fields will be mandatory.

The Obama administration should focus on licensing management reforms as it continues to forge ahead with Export Control Reform (ECR), said the Coalition for Security and Competitiveness in an April 11 letter to President Barack Obama. The 18 organizations that make up the coalition commended the ECR efforts to date, but expressed concern that the administration’s increased attention towards cloud computing, record keeping, cyber security, and encryption may lead to more controls on dual-use items. The Commerce and State departments are continuing to transfer dual-use items from the U.S. Munitions List to the Commerce Control List (see 14030504). The coalition recommended the following specific licensing management reforms:

The Obama Administration should ensure the Japanese tariff rate quota (TRQ) on U.S.-made and U.S.-branded leather footwear is removed through Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, said American Apparel and Footwear Association Executive Vice President Steve Lamar in an April 7 letter to President Barack Obama. Japan currently allows 12 million pairs of leather shoes annually in its TRQ, then 4,300 yen or a 30 percent duty is applied to additional imports, equating to about $45 per pair of shoes, said Lamar. “Japan’s leather footwear TRQ should be part of your call for Japan to increase its ambition on market access and reducing barriers to trade as part of the TPP negotiations,” said Lamar. “Japan’s longstanding footwear quotas have been a significant and costly barrier to U.S. footwear companies trying to enter the Japanese market. Japan’s leather footwear TRQ has been in place since 1952.” The Japanese TRQ represents another area of TPP discord, said Matt Priest, president of Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, in late February (see 14022504).