Leaders of four ASEAN countries reaffirmed the group's commitment to form the ASEAN Economic Community as scheduled in 2015, during the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok May 31. Yingluck Shinawatra, prime minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, said non-physical infrastructures must be addressed, such as laws and regulations that will ensure free cross-border movements of people and goods.
Kent Stevens, ex-International Trade Commission Office of Unfair Import Investigations joins McKool Smith law firm as a principal in its Washington, D.C., office.
Trade using surface transportation between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico, was up 6.2% in March 2012 from March 2011, reaching $85.8 billion), according to the Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. March 2012 was the highest month for NATFA trade value since collection of data began in 1994. The previous record was $80.8 billion in March 2011. The March figure was up 9.8% from February 2012.
The Port of San Diego's Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for FY 2014--2018 will be the subject of two upcoming meetings -- a public outreach meeting at 5:30 p.m. May 31 in the Port Authority building, and a board of commissioners workshop/special meeting at 8:30 a.m. June 7 at the Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier. Total spending in the last plan approached $100 million. The port authority has received proposals for 69 capital improvement projects. Some of the largest include $26 million for a land acquisition from the Navy and two separate gantry crane proposals totaling about $45 million.
Brazil is one of the world's largest agricultural economies and has emerged as a leading global exporter of numerous agricultural commodities, but its direct competition with the U.S. for sales of soybeans, grains, and meats to third country markets has been somewhat limited, said the International Trade Commission in its publication “Brazil: Competitive Factors in Brazil Affecting U.S. and Brazilian Agricultural Sales in Selected Third Country Markets." The ITC recently completed the investigation at the request of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) threw its considerable weight behind spectrum sharing, approving a spectrum report Friday that stresses the importance of sharing. The report recommends that President Barack Obama issue a memorandum saying it’s U.S. government policy to share underutilized government spectrum and ordering agencies to identify 1,000 MHz of spectrum that could be shared with the private sector. PCAST didn’t release the report, but the details were presented at a meeting in Washington.
U.S. carriers face much bigger challenges building out wireless networks compared to many of their international counterparts, said a report by Mobile Future and Analysys Mason. “The comparatively large size of the population of the United States (over 300 million) and its extensive land area (over 3.5 million square miles) pose significant challenges to the deployment of network infrastructure for mobile services across the country,” the report said (http://xrl.us/bm87eo). “However, in spite of the high investment costs required to cover the large areas of low population density, the United States has been consistently ahead of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK in terms of population coverage by mobile networks, since approximately 2008.” The most-sparsely-distributed 1 percent of the U.S. population lies within 1.88 million square miles of the nation’s land mass, an area “more than twice the size of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom,” the report said. “Despite the unique challenges to deploying wireless broadband to the most rural areas of our country, the United States is consistently a leader in deploying mobile coverage to a population spread over millions of miles,” said Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter. “The expanded U.S. mobile network coverage is a testament to massive network provider investment and the intense competition that fosters coverage from multiple network providers."
The Telecommunications Industry Association on Monday asked the FCC to clarify its order waiving the Jan. 1, 2013, deadline for private land mobile radio licensees in the 470-512 MHz band (T-Band) to migrate to narrowband technology. TIA specifically asked the agency to make clear it is waiving the ban on 25 kHz technologies in radios for use in the T-Band portion of the Part 90 VHF/UHF in certification applications filed on or after January 1, 2011. “Should public safety entities be unable to replace communications equipment during the interim transition period for the T-Band, these licensees face a dangerous prospect,” TIA said in a statement. “The Commission’s statement in Footnote 19 of the T-Band Order, while providing that permissive changes may be possible in some circumstances for existing certifications during the transitioning of the T-Band, does not appear to account for the possibility that ‘wideband,’ i.e. 25 kHz technology radios, may not be available in the interim time period. If licensees are unable to replace equipment that requires new certifications, they are at risk of reduced equipment availability and capabilities required for continued protection of the public."
NTIA told the FCC in a filing last week it believes spectrum legislation that became law in February requires the FCC to terminate the licenses of the government groups that want to build out early networks in the 700 MHz band and dismiss pending waiver applications. More than three dozen are pending. “Congress, well aware of the barriers to interoperability that resulted from the ‘network of networks’ concept embodied in legacy land mobile radio systems, chose to invest $7 billion and create FirstNet to design, build, and operate ‘a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network’ that is ‘based on a single, national network architecture,'” NTIA said (http://xrl.us/bm8r6n). “Guaranteeing interoperability for public safety broadband requires a nationwide network based on a single national design.” The legislation “made no provision” for the various systems being built under a waiver, the filing noted. NTIA was given a lead role in overseeing the new FirstNet in the spectrum legislation.