Free Republic

The Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), part of President Barack Obama's office, has denied a company's request for information about a secretive anticounterfeiting trade agreement being negotiated, citing national security concerns. The USTR this week denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Knowledge Ecology International, an intellectual-property research and advocacy group, even though Obama, in one of his first presidential memos, directed that agencies be more forthcoming with information requested by the public. The USTR under Obama seems to be taking the same position about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) as it did under former President George...

Trade nominee Ron Kirk agrees to pay back taxes DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Reuters WASHINGTON – Ron Kirk, nominated as U.S. Trade Representative in the Obama administration, owes an estimated $10,000 in back taxes from earlier in the decade and has agreed to make his payments, the Senate Finance Committee said Monday. The committee said the taxes arise from Kirk's handling of speaking fees that he donated to his alma mater, and for his deduction of the full cost of season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team. The disclosure made the former Dallas mayor...

USTR Nominee Latest to Face Tax Problems By Jessica Brady Roll Call Staff March 2, 2009, 4:32 p.m. Former Dallas Mayor Ronald Kirk, President Barack Obama’s pick for U.S. trade representative, misfiled taxable income and owes about $9,975, according to a Senate Finance Committee report released Monday.... Developing...

AugustReview.com [Editor's note: members of the Trilateral Commission and companies with Commission representation appear in bold type.] Since 1973, this writer has made inquiry as to the location and ownership of the vast stores of monetary gold (400 oz., .999 pure bars) in the world. There has not been a formal audit on Fort Knox, for instance, since the Eisenhower administration. Official statistics on gold holdings are often contradictory. Getting plain answers from any Central Bank in the world, including the Fed, is virtually impossible. This paper points out a pattern of manipulation that has been clearly observed by many...

Mexico's Communications and Transport Secretary Luis Téllez (SCT.gob.mx) told Federal Communications (COFETEL.gob.mx) members and industry representatives that greater competition (in the telecommunications sector) would allow more Mexicans access to opportunities provided by new technologies. "Letting this new technology remain in just a few selective hands is something we do not want and are not going to allow," Téllez said. Teléfonos de México SA, or Telmex, owned by the world´s second-richest man, billionaire Carlos Slim, controls more than 90 percent of the nation´s fixed phone lines, while his América Móvil SA provides about 70 percent of cell-phone service in Mexico. Telmex...

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative this week released its yearly review of telecom agreements negotiated with trading partners. In what is becoming an annual ritual, American officials once again reserved special criticism for Mexico's telecom market. USTR is upset about a new system for terminating international long distance calls to Mexico that shifts all the costs to U.S. callers. But what really has them steamed is that Mexico's carriers negotiated interconnection rates even higher than those recommended by the Mexico's Federal Telecommunications Commission, known as COFETEL. The upshot is that U.S. carriers will end up paying $124 million...

President Bush talked about American competitiveness in Maryland and welcomed, along with Secretary of State Rice, Prime Minister Siniora of Lebanon to the WH. He nominated Rob Portman as OMB Director and Susan Schwab for USTR. Vice President Dick Cheney visited troops at Ft. Riley, Kansas. Laura Bush visited with the Lebanese PM's wife at the WH. Welcome to Sanity Island!

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - El Salvador on Wednesday became the first Central American nation to join a regional free trade agreement with the United States.President Tony Saca inaugurated the pact in a ceremony at a food exporting company.But about 3,000 people marched elsewhere in the capital, San Salvador, to protest the agreement, which they say will hurt local farmers, street vendors and organized labor faced with competition from cheaper goods or with tighter restrictions on sales of counterfeit goods."From this day on we can count on a much larger market for our exported products and services," Saca said. He...

Washington (The Daily Standard) - THE FIRST SALVOS have been fired in a trade war that is unlike any other. Not that all has been peace and quiet on the trade front until now. Opposition to the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) by America's inefficient but politically potent sugar beet producers and apparel makers has delayed congressional approval. Bob Zoellick, who negotiated that agreement before moving up to the number two spot in the State Department, is confident that opposition will be overcome, but at the moment it is a close-run thing. And remember jokes about world trade agreements...

U.S. Wins WTO Case Against EU Over Geographical Food Names EU registry discriminates against non-EU products, panel rules The United States has won a case in the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the European Union (EU) system for protecting certain geographical food names -- called geographical indications, or GIs -- as trademarks. According to a December 21 press release from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), a WTO dispute-settlement panel in Geneva has ruled that the EU GI registry violates the WTO intellectual property rights agreement (TRIPs) because it discriminates against non-EU products. A U.S. trade official, who...

A container ship makes its way through Hong Kong waters as it leaves the territory. China hit the breaks on a free trade drive in 2003, the US charged in an annual report.(AFP/File/Peter Parks) China hit the brakes on a free trade drive in 2003, jamming up the process in a bureaucratic mangle, the United States charged in an annual report released. China had removed many obstacles to commerce since joining the World Trade Organization (news - web sites) in December 2001, the US Trade Representative's (USTR) office conceded in a key global report. But "substantial barriers" remain, said...

The Office of the United States Trade Representative recently held a reception to celebrate 40 years of 'achievement' in negotiating foreign trade agreements. Before the reception, President George W. Bush visited the USTR headquarters in the historic Winder building. The Winder building dates back to the mid-19th century and is thus a fitting place for the USTR office, as the ideology that drives the present USTR, Robert Zoellick, is rooted in that long ago world of fanciful liberal notions. The Winder building has been renovated more recently than the policies of its occupants. "In looking back over the past 40...