Filed under: Trade

Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.

 

Obama appoints former Midwest Banc CEO to post

Roberto Herencia, the former chief executive of Midwest Banc Holdings Inc., has been nominated to serve on the board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corp., the Obama administration announced Wednesday.

The OPIC was established as an agency of the U.S. government in 1971. It helps U.S. businesses invest overseas. On its Web site, OPIC says it charges market-based fees for its products and services and therefore operates at no net cost to taxpayers. Get the full story »

Honey executive sentenced to 30 months in prison

A honey import executive who pleaded guilty to conspiring to avoid more than $5 million in U.S. anti-dumping duties has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Hung Ta Fan, who also used the name Michael Fan, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Chicago and was ordered to pay about $5.38 million in restitution. He pleaded guilty to the charges in August. Get the full story »

U.S. chicken industry seeks answers on Russia ban

(David Pierini/Chicago Tribune)

The U.S. chicken industry, which in September resumed shipping meat to Russia, has contacted the U.S. embassy in Moscow in an attempt to learn if Russia intends to stop such imports beginning Jan. 1.

The head of Russia’s consumer protection watchdog on Wednesday told Reuters in Moscow the country will ban sales and processing of deep-frozen poultry meat from Jan. 1, both domestic and imported, because freezing hurts the quality of the meat. Get the full story »

U.S. says air safety measures won’t hurt trade

America’s transport watchdog vowed on Tuesday not to slow global trade by piling security measures onto the aviation industry in response to terror threats as air lobby group IATA warned against rash action. Get the full story »

U.S. plan hits G20 headwinds

The United States struggled on Friday to win backing for its proposal of setting numerical targets for external imbalances as a way of pressing surplus countries such as China to let their exchange rates rise.

In a letter to fellow finance ministers of the Group of 20 leading economies, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said countries should implement policies to reduce their current account imbalances below a specified share of national output. Get the full story »

U.S. to judge China yuan policy as election nears

The Obama administration faces a tough call Friday whether to label China a currency manipulator, a move long demanded by many U.S. lawmakers but also a potentially big wrench in an important relationship. Get the full story »

Dollar dealt another blow

The dollar fell sharply against a broad range of currencies Thursday as prospects for Asian economic growth contrasted with the likely need for more stimulus in the U.S.

A monetary-tightening move overnight by the Monetary Authority of Singapore accelerated the dollar’s slide, knocking the greenback to long-term lows against rivals in Asia, Europe and North America before regaining some poise in New York trading. Get the full story »

White House presses China on yuan

China needs to take steps on foreign exchange reform and the Obama administration is monitoring Beijing’s progress on this issue, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday.

“You have heard the secretary of treasury and the president and others in the administration discuss the need for China to take steps as it relates to its currency,” he told reporters. Get the full story »

U.S.: Markets must be allowed to drive currencies

Failure by global institutions to make a coordinated push to persuade countries such as China to let their currencies’ value rise would endanger the global economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday. Get the full story »

EU forges first Asian trade pact with S. Korea

The European Union and South Korea signed a free-trade deal Wednesday that could double trade between them and trigger more calls among Asian states for such pacts with the 27-nation bloc.

The accord, Europe’s first with an Asian nation, is set to take effect July 1 once ratified by the European Parliament. Get the full story »

Geography plays into anti-counterfeiting trade deal

The United States and European Union have reached a compromise over the use of geographical food names such as Champagne and Parma, clearing one of the last obstacles to an international pact to battle the growing trade in counterfeit goods.

“We found the solution even on that toughest of issues,” a U.S. trade official told Reuters, referring to a deal struck over the weekend in Tokyo on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between nearly 40 countries. Get the full story »

CME Group daily trading volume up in September

CME Group Inc.’s daily trading volume rose in September and the third quarter as a whole, the exchange operator said, continuing a trend of growth. Get the full story »

House set to pass bill aimed at China’s yuan

The House was set to pass legislation Wednesday to put pressure on China to let its currency rise faster, fanning the flames of a long-running dispute over trade and jobs.

The bill, expected to get heavy support from Democrats but a mixed reaction from Republicans, treats China’s exchange rate as a subsidy. That would open the door to extra duties on Chinese goods entering the United States, some of which are already subject to special levies. Get the full story »

EU accepts WTO ruling on technology goods

The World Trade Organization adopted a ruling Tuesday condemning controversial European duties on electronics products after the European Union declined to appeal against the verdict by WTO judges. Get the full story »

Chicago headquarters cited in Boeing WTO loss

Boeing Co. received billions of dollars in illegal government subsidies, including $25 million in incentives that Illinois provided the plane maker to relocate its world headquarters to Chicago in 2001, a panel of the World Trade Organization determined.

The WTO report is confidential and was released to U.S. and European trade officials Wednesday. It is the first ruling in the second of dueling trade cases filed by the U.S. and European Union against each other last decade alleging that aircraft manufacturers had received unfair government support. Get the full story »