US Trade Representative

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US Threatens 100% Tariffs on French Imports

Move would be retaliation for tech tax

(Newser) - The Trump administration is proposing tariffs on up to $2.4 billion worth of French imports—including Roquefort cheese, handbags, lipstick, and sparkling wine—in retaliation for France’s tax on American tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Facebook. The Office of the US Trade Representative charged Monday that France’...

Obama to Announce Picks for Commerce, Trade Rep

Longtime fundraiser and top economic adviser will be nominated today

(Newser) - President Obama will name a longtime fundraiser to run the Commerce Department and a top economic adviser as the next US Trade Representative, according to a White House official. Commerce nominee Penny Pritzker, a businesswoman, philanthropist, and Hyatt hotel heiress, is Obama's final pick to fill vacancies among Cabinet...

Obama Wants Power to Merge 6 Trade Agencies

Move aims to cut down on government bureaucracy

(Newser) - President Obama will today announce a plan to mash together six federal agencies—including the Commerce Department—in an effort to simplify the government's sprawling regulatory bureaucracy. Obama can't actually make the move without Congressional approval, however, so he intends to ask Congress for a special reorganizational power—...

Senate OKs Ron Kirk as Trade Rep
Senate OKs
Ron Kirk as
Trade Rep
Mar 18, 2009 4:00 PM CDT

Senate OKs Ron Kirk as Trade Rep

Former Dallas mayor vows to enforce US export deals

(Newser) - The Senate today confirmed, in a 92-5 vote, former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk as US trade representative, the Dallas Morning News reports. With global trade declining for the first time in 27 years, Kirk has vowed to make countries fulfill their trade promises to the US. Kirk paid the IRS...

New White House Tougher on Trading Partners

Trade nominee vows renegotiated pacts, tougher enforcement

(Newser) - The Obama administration is taking a harder line with trading partners, reworking policy to  emphasize priorities from unemployment at home to climate change, the Washington Post reports. The White House will seek to renegotiate trade deals with South Korea and Colombia and will demand broad concessions from other countries at...

Obama Trade Nominee Has Tax Snafu, Amends Returns

(Newser) - Ron Kirk, President Obama’s nominee for US trade representative, has some tax problems of his own, Reuters reports today, with the Senate Finance Committee estimating a liability of about $10,000; Kirk has already moved to correct the errors. The majority stem from speaking funds he passed directly to...

Ex-Dallas Mayor Kirk Will Be Obama's Trade Rep

Free-trade Democrat among few Southerners tabbed for cabinet

(Newser) - Barack Obama will announce former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk as his nominee for trade representative tomorrow, the Dallas Morning News reports. Kirk, who ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2002, is pro-trade and a staunch supporter of NAFTA. Kirk campaigned extensively for Obama, and is one of the few Southern faces...

US Scores With Only $21M in WTO Sanctions

Antigua sought $3.4B for online betting ban; US talks revising treaty

(Newser) - The WTO ruled today Antigua could impose $21 million in trade sanctions on the US because of an online betting ban, a significant loss for the Caribbean island that had sought $3.4 billion. The trade organization recognized the American authority to police public morals but said Washington could not...

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