GHY Tradelines

(STR Trade Report)

The Food and Drug Administration has unveiled a new automated system for companies exporting food from the U.S. to file electronically for certificates of free sale. Such certificates are often requested by international customers or governments to verify that the products being exported meet certain standards.

The FDA Unified Registration and Listing Systems Certificate Application Process allows exporters of conventional foods, including seafood, to apply online for a CFS, reducing the amount of time required for the FDA to process requests and issue certificates. Exporters who create a CAP account will be able to apply for new certificates, modify existing applications and check the status of pending applications. To create an account, companies will need to enter the food facility registration number and passcode they received when they registered under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002.

The FDA notes that while companies will now be able to apply for a CFS electronically they can still request certificates by mail. In addition, even if the application is made electronically, at this time certificates are available only as hard copies that are mailed to the applicant.

(The Boston Globe – Bobby Caina Calvan)

Cargo screening put off to 2014

The Department of Homeland Security will miss an initial deadline of July 12 to comply with a sweeping federal law meant to thwart terrorist attacks arriving by sea, frustrating border security advocates who worry that the agency has not done enough to prevent dangerous cargo from coming through the country’s ocean gateways, including the Port of Boston.

Only a small fraction of all metal cargo containers have been scanned before arriving at U.S. ports, and advocates for tighter port security say all maritime cargo needs to be scanned or manually inspected to prevent terrorists from using ships bound for the United States to deliver a nuclear bomb.

The scenario might be straight out of a Hollywood script, but the threat of terrorism is not limited to airplanes, according to Homeland Security critics, including Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts. Markey accuses the agency of not making a good-faith effort to comply with a 2007 law he coauthored requiring all U.S.-bound maritime shipments to be scanned before departing overseas docks. Read more here.
 

(STR Trade Report)

A U.S.-European Union working group is due to deliver by the end of June a preliminary report on ways to increase bilateral trade and investment. The joint High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth established in late 2011 was tasked with conducting a comprehensive review of existing trade barriers and making recommendations on policies to reduce or remove them, from enhanced regulatory cooperation to the negotiation of one or more bilateral trade agreements. Business groups have used the opportunity to reiterate their support for a transatlantic free trade agreement, but comments from U.S. and EU officials suggest that they may have to settle for something less ambitious.

In a May 22 speech to the London School of Economics and Political Science, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that in the aftermath of the global economic downturn “a consensus has emerged on both sides of the Atlantic that we can – and we should – do even more to tap the full potential of this extraordinary relationship to boost our growth, support more and better jobs, and to help meet the competitive challenges of the coming decades.” As a result, he said, U.S. and EU negotiators “are working together to examine a wide range of possibilities, including: eliminating conventional barriers to trade in goods, such as tariffs and tariff-rate quotas; reducing barriers to trade in services and to transatlantic investment; promoting regulatory approaches that facilitate trade; reducing, eliminating or preventing in the first place behind-the-border barriers to trade in all categories; and developing rules and principles on other global issues that are of common concern.”

Kirk stated that any new transatlantic trade negotiation “would need to achieve full liberalization of market access for all categories of goods and expand transatlantic flows of services and investment” and should also “identify new approaches to non-tariff barriers” such as health- and safety-related measures. Specifically, he added, the U.S. would want any such agreement to be “at least as broad and ambitious” as existing U.S. trade agreements. He added that this approach could serve as a model for advancing the Doha Round or other multilateral trade liberalization negotiations by providing an alternative to “the negotiating dynamic that existed before.” Read the complete article here.
 

(The Globe and Mail)

A NAFTA panel ruling last month against Canada, in favour of Exxon Mobil Oil Corp. and Murphy Oil Corp., is a reminder of an unsolved riddle: What should the federal government do about having to pay, under international trade treaties, to compensate for the actions of provinces?

The previous instance was quite dramatic. In 2008, Danny Williams, who was then the Progressive Conservative premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, suddenly decided to expropriate assets of AbitibiBowater Inc., in an angry reaction to the company’s closing of a newsprint mill.

In 2010, the federal government prudently settled with AbitibiBowater for $130-million, but Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, said that a mechanism would be created so that Ottawa could recover such payments from a provincial government. Maybe there was some quiet détente; Mr. Williams’ overheated Anything But Conservative campaign in the 2008 federal election – over an equalization payments dispute – was not renewed. Read more here.
 

(AFP)

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in April from a month earlier as the world’s largest economy grappled with fragile growth, government data showed Friday in a report pointing to a global slowdown.

The trade gap shrank to $50.1 billion, from an upwardly revised $52.6 billion in March, the Commerce Department said.

In April, the United States imported $233.0 billion in goods and services, down 1.7% from March, the second decline in three months.

Exports fell by 0.8%, the first decline in five months, to $182.9 billion. The drop was led by capital goods and industrial supplies, but was partly offset by gains in food and beverage and autos. Read more here.
 

(CBC News)

A drop in exports pushed Canada back into a trade deficit in April, as the economy shipped in $367 million more than it sent out during the month.

Canada has posted a trade surplus for five consecutive months prior to April, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

A drop in exports of industrial goods and materials, as well as machinery and equipment, pushed Canada’s total exports down to $39.1 billion during the month. That compares with $39.5 billion worth of goods and services imported into Canada. Read more here.