GHY Tradelines

(New York Times – Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Sewell Chan)

President Obama and President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea failed to reach an agreement Thursday on a long-awaited free-trade agreement, saying they had decided instead to give their negotiators more time to work out differences, which revolved around Korean imports of American autos and beef.

The two men said at a news conference that they expected a deal to be reached soon. By soon, Mr. Obama said, he did not mean months. “We want this to be done in a matter of weeks,” he said.

Even so, the delay is a setback for Mr. Obama, who is on a 10-day, four-nation swing through Asia that he has promoted as a mission to boost the American economy and create jobs. He has made trade – and in particular, the doubling of American exports over the next five years – a centerpiece of his agenda, and it had been widely expected that he would leave here with a deal with the South Koreans in hand. Read more here.

(fibre2fashion.com)

In a joint letter to their respective governments dated October 26, 2010, textile groups employing more than one million workers urged the governments of the European Union, Mexico, Turkey and United States to take action against India if it continues to restrict the export of cotton.

The groups cited an illegal pattern of export restraints on cotton that the Indian government has imposed since April. The Indian restraints have contributed to an enormous increase in the price of cotton for non-Indian textile producers around the globe. Since India began restricting the export of cotton in April, the price of cotton has increased by nearly 100 percent, from 62 cents per lb to $1.20 per lb. According to the Wall Street Journal, cotton prices have hit all time highs in recent weeks. Read more here.

(Purchasing B2B)

Emerging markets are key players in the merger and acquisition trend

Things are starting to look better in the automotive sector as continued growth in emerging markets and widespread inventory replenishment are offsetting slower automotive markets in North America and Europe, according to a recent report.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ latest Autofacts forecast estimates sales in emerging BRIC markets are pushing 2010 towards a record year for global light vehicle assembly, all but eclipsing the 2007 pre-recession high point.

“In light of a muted sales recovery in the U.S. and the effects of government incentive withdrawals being felt across Europe and Japan, it should not be surprising that sales in the established markets through 2010 are in decline or stable at best. Indeed, given such uncertain circumstances for the world’s major automotive markets, a record level of vehicle assembly in 2010 would have been dismissed a year ago,” said PwC auto analyst Calum MacRae, who noted developing markets will continue to be a growth driver for the industry well into 2011. Read more here.

(EICB)

The purpose of this Notice is to inform importers of the Minister’s policies and practices respecting the administration of the 20,411,866 kg tariff rate quota (TRQ) for cheeses of all types. It should be read with the Import Allocation Regulations and the Import Permit Regulations. Where elements of the present Notice augment these regulations, those elements are to be read as expressions of the Minister’s normal practices and procedures.

Coverage

This Notice cancels and replaces Notice to Importers No. 723 dated October 25, 2007. It refers to Items 141 to 157 of the Import Control List (ICL), i.e., products falling under tariff item No. 04.06 in the list of tariff provisions set out in the schedule to the Customs Tariff, namely cheeses of all types.

This Notice should be read in conjunction with Notice to Importers No. 783 dated November 2, 2010, which explains the administration of supplementary imports for dairy products.

Importers who require a determination as to whether the tariff classification of the product they intend to import is within the scope of this Notice are to contact: Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Admissibility Branch at 613-957-1468, fax: 613-952-3971.

This Notice is available in its entirety on the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada website here.

(World Trade Interactive)

President Obama issued Nov. 9 an executive order formally establishing the Export Enforcement Coordination Center within the Department of Homeland Security. The EECC will be charged with coordinating efforts among the departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Commerce, Energy and Homeland Security as well as other agencies to detect, prevent, disrupt, investigate and prosecute violations of U.S. export control laws. Read more here.

Related: Oh Goody! Another Export Control Bureaucracy (Export Law Blog)

(World Trade Interactive)

By exporting indirectly through wholesalers and as producers of intermediate inputs, U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises play a larger role in the export economy than is suggested by traditional trade statistics, according to a report released Nov. 9 by the International Trade Commission.

The report, the last in a series of three requested by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to help inform the Obama administration’s trade policy, examines the export performance of U.S. SMEs engaged in manufacturing, distribution and services and identifies trade barriers that disproportionately affect SME export performance. The report also analyzes new data sets to examine the performance of SME services firms. Read more here.

(Bridges Weekly)

The European Commission on Tuesday set out a blueprint for an EU trade strategy that would help boost growth and job creation in Europe.

The paper does not represent a significant departure from the EU’s four-year-old ‘global Europe’ strategy, which called for free trade agreements (FTAs) with some key trading partners, cooperation to reduce non-tariff barriers with others, efforts to open up public procurement and investment markets, and the enforcement of existing trade commitments, including through the use of trade remedies.

Instead, the Commission focuses on how lowering trade barriers could help the Europe recover from the global economic downturn, looking at potential contributions to increased growth, purchasing power, and employment. The report is intended to highlight trade’s role in the EU’s growth strategy for the upcoming decade, dubbed Europe 2020. Read more here.