Peru is a Done Deal


Today the Senate approved the Peru Trade Promotion Agreement by a vote of 77 to 18. This clears the way for the president to sign it into law. Here is a NY Times article on the passage. As these things go, this is not a very big deal in terms of economic impact for the U.S. Total trade between the U.S. and Peru is less than $8 billion per year, accounting for less than half a percent of the total U.S. trade volume.
Peru has a population of about 28 million and a land area slightly smaller than Alaska. Economically, Peru is heavily dependent on its mineral wealth for exports. From 2002 to 2006, there was consistent economic growth and currency stability although the need to improve infrastructure has limited foreign investment. In addition to copper, gold, and petroleum, major exports include textiles and guinea pigs. Major imports to Peru are plastics, machinery, and vehicles. The U.S. is the largest exporter to Peru followed by China, Brazil, and Ecuador.

In case you are wondering, these are not the kind of facts I generally have in my head. I took them from the CIA Factbook. Because it comes from America's intelligence community, this information is entirely reliable and should be used as the basis for important policy decisions.

Even without the agreement, nearly all Peruvian products enter the U.S. duty free. Thus, the value of this agreement is in better market access by U.S. exporters to Peru and in certain legal reforms undertaken in Peru. According to Article 23.4, this agreement will enter into effect 60 days after the parties exchange letters saying they are ready. I believe the letters are to be left in a mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnell's porch.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ruling of the Week 2015.8: Old Jersey and Pitcairn Island

Image
For today's ROTW, I set out looking for a ruling dealing with some far off and preferably warm location. Turns out that, with the exception of coastwise transit issues, there are no Customs and Border Protection rulings involving Pitcairn Island or any of several Pacific Ocean microstates including Tuvalu , Niue , and Kiribati . Pitcairn Island What I did find is an interesting question about the country of origin marking for products of the Bailiwick of Jersey Island, Channel Islands. The ruling is HQ 561938 (Mar. 18, 2002). For those of you who may not know, Jersey is an island off the coast of Normandy, France. It is an independent international actor and not part of the U.K. although the U.K. is responsible for its defense and external relations. Also, the Queen is the Head of State in her capacity as "the Crown in Right of Jersey." It is, according to the U.S. Department of State, a " Crown Dependency " along with the Isle of Man and the Bailiwick o...
Read more

CAFC Decision in Double Invoicing Case

The Federal Circuit has issued a decision on the merits in United States v. Inn Foods, Inc.  There had been a previous decision on jurisdiction, which was followed by a trial at the Court of International Trade and then this appeal on the substance. The initial issue is whether Inn Foods' invoicing practice amounts to fraud.  Inn Foods had been receiving an invoice from growers in Mexico that had a relatively low sales prices on it.  Subsequent to entry, Inn Foods created a second invoice at something more similar to market value, retaining the original invoice number, and paid at that higher amount.   Superficially, this looks like a standard-issue double-invoicing scheme.  But, in the age of reconciliation, is it really more like a provisional pricing mechanism?  It might have been possible to make that argument had Inn Foods adjusted its entries accordingly.  It didn't and the loss of revenue was approximately $624,000.  Based on testimony and evidence indicating both knowl...
Read more

Ninestar and UFLPA Exhaustion

Image
Exhaustion is a key doctrine in administrative law. When applicable, it requires that a party unhappy with an agency’s determination complete the administrative appeal process before turning to the courts for judicial review. Requiring exhaustion typically promotes judicial efficiency by ensuring that disputes are resolved at the agency and, if they are not, that there is a complete record of the agency process. Exhaustion also ensures that the judiciary respects the executive agencies and their expertise.  There are, on the other hand, times when the courts will find that exhaustion is not necessary or appropriate. Such is the case in  Ninestar Corporation et al. v. United States  et al., a decision of the U.S. Court of International Trade.  Ninestar is also interesting because it is one of the first cases in the CIT involving the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, known as UFLPA. In my hiatus from active blogging, I missed the rise of UFLPA as a major compliance t...
Read more