The Commerce Department will in March 2015 lead an export promotion mission for exporters of safety and security equipment and services to Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt. The trade mission will include stops in Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco; Algiers, Algeria; and Cairo, where participants will receive market briefings and participate in customized meetings with key officials and prospective partners. There will be an optional stop in Beirut. Commerce will accept applications on a rolling basis from Sept. 1 until Jan. 15.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for May 1:
The Commerce Department aims to add a total of 68 new International Trade Administration staff positions globally and open five new offices in foreign markets, said Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker in mid-April. The expansion targets Asian and sub-Saharan African markets, Pritzker said, adding that Commerce will launch its first Foreign Commercial Service office in Burma. Commerce will begin implementing the expansion in the coming months.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is amending the Export Administration Regulations to place 14 entities on the Entity List. The entities will be classified under Cyprus, Luxemburg and Russia destinations. The Entity List is comprised of individuals and entities that the U.S. determines pose a risk to national security. The entities are as follows:
The Koochiching Economic Development Authority has submitted an application to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board to reorganize FTZ 259 under the Alternative Site Framework, said the FTZ Board in a Federal Register notice. Under the reorganization, the service area would cover Koochiching County, Minnesota, which includes the International Falls border crossing. ASF streamlines processes for designation of new FTZ subzones and usage driven sites within the service area by allowing companies to request zone status through the relatively simple "minor boundary modification" process. Comments on the application are due by June 30.
The American Sugar Coalition (ASC) remains confident the International Trade Commission will find injury to U.S. industry and allow antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on Mexican sugar to go forward, following initiation of investigation in mid-April, according to a coalition spokesman. The spokesman hit back at a series of allegations made by sugar importers at a National Foreign Trade Counsel roundtable on April 28 (see 14042835). Despite increases in U.S. market share during the 2011-2013 period under investigation, Mexican market share skyrocketed due to systematic dumping, said the spokesman.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is amending the Export Administration Regulations to place eight Chinese companies and one individual on the entities list. The entities are as follows:
The Commerce Department is postponing its ports and marine technology export promotion mission to India until Feb. 2-6, 2015, it said in a Federal Register notice. The trade mission, which was originally scheduled for November 2014, is for companies and trade associations that provide port and marine equipment and services including security, logistics, vessel tracking, oil spill detection, dredging, underwater exploration and mapping (see 14031423).
The American Sugar Coalition’s claim that Mexican sugar imports have injured U.S. industry lacks merit and should be rejected by the International Trade Commission (ITC), said a number of private industry officials during a National Foreign Trade Council roundtable on April 28. The Commerce Department and ITC launched antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on Mexican sugar, in response to the American Sugar Coalition's petition in March (see 14042101). The ITC is due to make its preliminary determination on May 12.
The Commerce Department is seeking comment on any subsidies, including stumpage subsidies, provided by certain countries exporting softwood lumber or softwood lumber products to the U.S. during the period July 1 through Dec. 31, 2013. Comments are due by May 30.