Presidential Proclamation Implements U.S.-Panama TPA, Corrects KORUS, Peru & Columbia FTA HTS Entries

President Barack Obama issued a proclamation Oct. 30 formally implementing the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement. The government had previously said the agreement would take effect Oct. 31. (See ITT's Online Archives 12102225). International Trade Commission Publication 4349, which will detail changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule authorized by the President’s proclamation, has not yet been released. International Trade Today will provide a detailed summary of the changes upon the Publication’s availability. The proclamation did, however, delegate authority for textile and apparel safeguard and commercial availability provisions of the U.S.-Panama TPA, and previewed the HTS changes that will be coming in ITC Publication 4349.

Among other things, the official proclamation said:

• The HTS is modified to provide for preferential treatment accorded under the U.S.-Panama TPA, to set forth rules for determining whether goods imported into the U.S. are eligible for preferential treatment under the U.S.-Panama TPA, and set out rules of origin for the TPA.
• Panama is removed from developing country beneficiary status for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), and from beneficiary status for the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA).
• Corrections will be made to HTS provisions for the U.S.-Korea FTA (KORUS), U.S.-Peru FTA, and U.S.-Colombia TPA to correct errors and provide the intended tariff treatment. The changes will be effective on March 15 for KORUS, May 15 for the U.S.-Colombia TPA, and Feb. 1, 2009 for the U.S.-Peru FTA.
• The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements is authorized to determine that a fabric, yarn, or fiber is or is not available in commercial quantities in a timely manner in Panama and the U.S.; to add such products to the list of items not available in commercial quantities in Panama and the U.S.; and to remove such products that have been previously added to the list.
• The CITA is authorized to direct the exclusion of certain textile and apparel goods from the customs territory of the U.S. and to direct the denial of preferential tariff treatment to textile and apparel goods.
• The CITA is authorized to review requests, and to determine whether to commence consideration of such requests; after an appropriate determination, to cause to be published in the Federal Register a notice of commencement of consideration of a request and notice seeking public comment; to determine whether imports of a Panamanian textile or apparel article are causing serious damage, or actual threat thereof, to a domestic industry producing an article that is like, or directly competitive with, the imported article; and to provide relief from imports of an article that is the subject of an affirmative determination as to damage or threat.