GHY Tradelines

(The Globe and Mail – Barrie McKenna)

Ed Fast is a cabinet minister in a hurry.

Canada has fallen perilously behind its key rivals in cementing trade and investment ties with China and other emerging Asian powers. And Mr. Fast, the Harper government’s champion on international trade, is in a race to catch up. Which means a lot of air miles for a guy who, prior to his ascension to the job last May, had never even set foot in China.

This year, he’ll visit all nine member countries of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a list that includes Australia, Vietnam and New Zealand, as he lobbies for Canada’s admission into the coveted free-trade negotiating club. He was also in China with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in February, signing an investment agreement and talking up Canadian exports – his second trip there in less than a year.

Then it was on to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (three other TPP members) before heading for home. Mr. Fast is plotting possible trips to Japan, South Korea and Brazil later this year, as Canada strives to sign new deals and diversify commerce to faster-growing parts of the world – which is a gentle way of saying Ottawa wants to break the country’s overreliance on the United States as a destination for exports. Read more here.
 

(STR Trade Report)

The Obama administration delivered to Congress March 1 its 2012 Trade Policy Agenda and 2011 Annual Report, which “offers a survey of how the [Obama] administration will continue to support American jobs through exports and two-way trade, through enforcement of U.S. rights in a strong, rules-based trading system, and through bolstered international trade relationships.”

A press release from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative states that key goals for 2012 include entry into force and implementation of free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama; concluding negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement; enhanced trade enforcement efforts to investigate unfair trading practices and hold trading partners accountable for their commitments to comply with World Trade Organization obligations; extending permanent normal trade relations to Russia; and continued U.S. leadership at the WTO and other forums toward greater international trade liberalization. Read more here.

Related: House Ways and Means Committee Holds Hearing on President Obama’s Trade Policy
 

(STR Trade Report)

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment no later than May 16 on proposed changes to the Appliance Labeling Rule. This rule provides for the EnergyGuide labels that tell consumers the product’s estimated annual operating cost and energy consumption rating as well as a range for comparing the highest and lowest energy consumption for all similar models. Appliances that have EnergyGuide labels include televisions, clothes washers, dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers, water heaters, room air conditioners, central air conditioners, furnaces, boilers, heat pumps and pool heaters.

The FTC is requesting input on the benefits and costs of the rule as well as several proposed changes, including whether the Commission should (a) eliminate duplicative reporting requirements for manufacturers, (b) require a uniform method for attaching labels to appliances, (c) place EnergyGuide labels on room air conditioner packages instead of the products, (d) improve Web site disclosures and (e) revise ceiling fan labels.

Click here for FTC press release.
 

(CBC News)

A fast-moving fire gutted a customs warehouse building near Toronto Pearson International Airport, causing at least $1-million damage to the facility and the property within its walls.

The fire broke out Sunday at a Canada Border Services Agency building on Elmbank Road, near Highway 427, south of Highway 409.

Firefighters were called to the scene just after noon on Sunday. Read more here.
 

(Bloomberg/Business Standard)

US authorities charged 29 people with smuggling $325 million in counterfeit consumer goods from China, including phony Nike sneakers and Coach handbags, through a New Jersey port.

The bust was one of the largest counterfeiting probes in US history, and it involved smuggling cigarettes, handbags and sneakers through the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal as US agents secretly watched and listened, US Attorney Paul Fishman said. Agents infiltrated two overlapping criminal rings and lured them to use a front company run by the government.

Authorities arrested 23 people in New York, New Jersey, Texas and the Philippines. Six are at large. Most are Chinese and lived in New York. Prosecutors said they used phony paperwork to import goods in corrugated shipping containers, used distributors and wholesalers, and laundered illicit proceeds. Read more here.
 

(Dina ElBoghdady — Washington Post)

Every day, inspectors in white hats and coats take up positions at every one of the nation’s slaughterhouses, eyeballing the hanging carcasses of cows and chickens as they shuttle past on elevated rails, looking for bruises, tumors and signs of contamination.

It’s essentially the way U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety inspectors have done their jobs for a century, ever since Upton Sinclair’s blockbuster novel, “The Jungle,” exposed horrid conditions in a Chicago meatpacking facility and shook Americans awake to the hazards of tainted food.

But these days, the bulk of what Americans eat — seafood, vegetables, fruit, dairy products, shelled eggs and almost everything except meat and poultry — is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. And the FDA inspects the plants it oversees on average about once a decade. Read more here.
 

(Canadian Transportation & Logistics)

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) says it is “encouraged” by its discussions with stakeholders [last] week concerning the future of the Canada-US Beyond the Border Action Plan.

CTA participated in the Border Commercial Consultative Committee (BCCC) along with members of Canada’s trade community and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), as well as the Beyond the Border Action Plan Town Hall meeting in Niagara Falls, N.Y. where officials from both sides of the border were present alongside Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Deputy Commissioner Winkowski and CBSA President Portelance.

Discussions centred on programs and initiatives contained in the Border Action Plan and next steps that will be taken as the Plan is executed. As a key player in discussions on any border-related changes, CTA remains closely involved on several programs contained in the plan and continues to work with officials from various government departments on partnership opportunities. Read more here.