On March 23, 2010, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano joined with Mexican Interior Secretary Gmez-Mont to sign two arrangements to bolster aviation and border security between the United States and Mexico at the Mrida U.S.-Mexico High Level Consultative Group meeting-further expanding ongoing cooperative efforts to crack down on violent drug cartels and combat terrorism while facilitating the secure and efficient flow of legitimate travel and trade. (Press release, dated 03/23/10, available at http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1269400206038.shtm)
World Trade Organization Director-General Lamy stated in a recent speech that failure on the Doha Round would spill over into other present and future cooperation efforts, and not only in the trade policy domain. He added that countries simply cannot go their own way and disregard the costs of neglecting international cooperation. (Speech, dated 03/18/10, available at http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/sppl_e/sppl150_e.htm)
The Department of Homeland Security will redeploy $50 million of Recovery Act funding originally allocated for the SBInet Block 1 to other tested, commercially available security technology along the Southwest border, including mobile surveillance, thermal imaging devices, ultra-light detection, backscatter units, mobile radios, cameras and laptops for pursuit vehicles, and remote video surveillance system enhancements. (Press release, dated 03/16/10, available at http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1268769368466.shtm)
The Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis have announced that total January 2010 exports of $142.7 billion and imports of $180.0 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $37.3 billion, down from $39.9 billion in December 2009, revised. January exports were $0.5 billion less than December exports and January imports were $3.1 billion less than December imports. (Fact sheet, dated 03/11/10, available at http://www.commerce.gov/s/groups/public/@doc/@os/@opa/documents/content/prod01_008993.pdf)
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico has posted Ambassador Pascual's remarks before the AmCham National Convention in which he suggested "extending" the U.S.-Mexico border to transit hubs throughout Mexico and the U.S., moving security and customs operations to these decentralized points, and creating multiple customs points in certain cities using pre-clearance, automation resources and GPS technology. (Remarks, posted 03/10/10, available at http://mexico.usembassy.gov/eng/Ambassador/A100310AmCham.html)
On March 10, 2010, the Commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to approve, with several changes from the staff version, a final rule to replace its September 1, 2009 interim final rule on CPSC's interpretation of the statutory factors it considers in determining civil penalty amounts for "knowing" violations of the prohibited acts in the CPSA, FFA, and FHSA. (Webcast of 03/10/10 meeting available at http://www.cpsc.gov/webcast/previous.html)
On April 1, 2010, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is scheduled to implement Phase IV of its enforcement phase-in schedule for the Lacey Act declaration requirement for imported plants and plant products.
As part of its fiscal year 2011 budget justification document, the Department of Homeland Security listed numerous FY 2011 goals for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Highlights of those goals for specified activities include:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a final rule, which adopts, with changes, its August 2006 interim final rule that removed the exemptions from agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) user fees for commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international air passengers, which enter the U.S. from Canada.
The Commerce Department is releasing findings of an analytic report on the differences between the official trade statistics produced by the United States and China. This report was prepared cooperatively by analysts in the United States and China as part of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade Statistics Working Group (JCCT SWG). (Report, posted 03/5/10, available at http://www.esa.doc.gov/SWG03042010.cfm)