The Washington Trade Daily (WTD) has reported that the Senate began debate on March 3, 2004 to repeal the current Foreign Sales Corporation/Extraterritorial Income Tax Exclusion (FSC/ETI) regime. According to Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Sen. Grassley, the FSC/ETI could be replaced with the Jumpstart Our Business Strength Act (JOBS Act) which would use all of the money from the repeal to provide a 3 point tax rate cut on income from U.S.-based manufacturing. (WTD Pub 03/04/04, www.washingtontradedaily.com, Sen. Grassley's press release dated 03/02/04, available at http://finance.senate.gov/press/Gpress/2004/prg030204.pdf)
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice stating that at the request of Shunde Yongjian Housewares Co., Ltd. (Yongjian), a mandatory respondent in this investigation, it has postponed its final antidumping (AD) duty determination on floor-standing, metal-top ironing tables and certain parts thereof from China until no later than June 13, 2004.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting written comments by April 16, 2004 concerning the European Communities' (EC's) request for the establishment of a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel (DSP) regarding offsets to calculated dumping margins for instances of non-dumping.
On March 3, 2004, President Bush determined to not provide import relief to the U.S. pipe fittings industry with respect to certain ductile iron waterworks fittings even though the International Trade Commission (ITC), in its product-specific Section 421 market disruption investigation of such products imported from China, had proposed remedies in which additional duties would be implemented for a three-year period.
On February 20, 2004, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) issued an order denying a November 2002 petition filed by the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers, Inc. seeking an investigation under section 11(c) of the Shipping Act of 1984 of certain activities in the New York/New Jersey Port District.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a final rule, effective April 2, 2004, that decreases the amount of the assessment due on imported pork and pork products under the Pork Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Order (Pork Order).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has posted to its Web site the draft text of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), which is dated March 1, 2004.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued its second version (dated March 1, 2004) of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and responses regarding its final rule requiring the advance electronic presentation of information pertaining to cargo (sea, air, rail, or truck) prior to its being brought into, or sent from, the U.S.
According to a press release issued by the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on March 4, 2004, the Senate passed its version of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2003.
The Commerce Department's Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) has issued its Major Shippers Textiles and Apparel Report, which contains selected general import statistics by date of import from the Census Bureau through December 31, 2003 by country and category (including merged and part category).