The Custom-House

Ron Kirk talks sense to the American people

Trade isn't part of the problem, its part of the solution, says U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk: Remarks by Ambassador Ron Kirk United States Trade Representative. (remarks at Georgetown University Law Center, today).

Exports accounted for 13 percent of GDP last year and almost half of overall U.S. trade growth in the three years leading up to the recession.  As exports have fallen 16 percent, unemployment has risen, so:

"An aggressive effort to keep trade flowing and open more markets to American goods and services absolutely must be a big part of our economic recovery here at home...."

"To get our economy back on track, we need to increase exports. That means we need access to growing economies abroad...."

"...a strong case can be made for trade as a creator not just of jobs, but of the better-paying jobs that Americans want and need today."

Here's how the administration plans to proceed:

Obama to relax restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba

Anonymous administration sources are reporting this weekend that the Obama Administration will lift restrictions on family travel and remittances to Cuba this month. 

Laura Meckler reported first in the Wall Street Journal: U.S to Lift Some Cuba Travel Curbs.. Here's another report from the New York Times: Obama to Loosen Restrictions on Policy With Cuba.

Yesterday's Draft Greenhouse Gas Bill

House Democrats have floated a draft greenhouse gas bill.  The draft bill, described as incomplete, is 648 pages long.  Environmental Capital pulls together a number of links (Green Ink: A ‘Starting Point’ on the Climate Debate). 

With respect to competitiveness and trade, the Reuters summary (FACTBOX: U.S. Democrats launch draft carbon legislation) notes:

INDUSTRY REBATES/TRADE

Authorizes U.S. companies in industries that use a lot of energy to receive "rebates" to compensate for additional costs of cap and trade. If rebates are not sufficient, the president would have the power to establish a "border adjustment" program, possibly tariffs on goods from countries that do not take action on cutting greenhouse gases.

Keith Johnson at Environmental Capital goes into more detail (Cushions and Crutches: How Would the Cap-and-Trade Bill Protect Vulnerable Industries?):

For instance, the bill identifies several sectors that are energy-intensive or heavily exposed to global trade, such as steel, cement, paper, chemicals, and the like. Those sectors would get a government handout in the form of rebates to cushion the higher energy bills brought about by climate legislation. This would help keep their products globally competitive.

The problem is figuring out just how much those rebates would be. The bill’s relationship with English breaks down a little here when it says the cash rebates will be “equal to the sum of the covered entity’s direct compliance factor and the covered entity’s indirect carbon factor.”