Issue 287, January 16, 2001
On Saturday, the reigns of government will be handed over to George W. Bush. As the Bush administration begins to put its Trade people in place, it is apparent they are facing a number of hurdles left over from the Clinton Administration.

No name has yet surfaced as the successor to Raymond Kelly as Commissioner of Customs. In fact, rumors abound that he may be asked to stay on as an interim Commissioner. Regardless, Customs faces the continuing struggle with ACE and modernization. Award of the ACE contract is currently scheduled for April 25, 2001. However, Kelly or his successor will need to continue to collect the cooperation of the industry on its modernization efforts (including the Entry Revision Process) that are integral to this process. Legislative changes (and defining the systems requirements for ACE due to these changes) will need to proceed quickly if real progress is to be made in 2001. While Kelly seemed to put great emphasis on the law enforcement aspect of Customs, the new Commissioner will be faced with significant commercial and operational changes that need to be immediately addressed.

This past week, President-Elect Bush appointed Robert B. Zo묬ick, a former assistant to James Baker III at the Treasury, the State Department and the White House, to be the United States Trade Representative. Zo묬ick is described as a dogmatic free trader and during his previous government positions, he was directly involved in negotiating NAFTA and clearing the final negotiating hurdle to the creation of the World Trade Organization. Zo묬ick faces significant unfinished business that must be addressed before he can negotiate free trade agreements with Europe and the rest of Latin and South America, as he reportedly wants to do. First, are the still pending trade disputes over bananas, beef and export company subsidies. As far back as May 2000, the USTR's office was due to release the "carousel" list of new products from the EU subject to sanction. That action and others were put on hold pending an attempt to negotiate a settlement of these issues. Meanwhile, outgoing Clinton personnel are pushing a free trade agreement with Singapore, among other things. Ratification of the Vietnam trade agreement (to grant it Col. 1 rates of duty) and Jordan Free Trade Agreement must also be addressed.

Our contributing writer, David M. Murphy, is a Partner at the Customs and international trade law firm of Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP in New York, and can be reached at (212) 557-4000.

Please note that due to the complex nature of the subject matter, Danzas AEI cannot be responsible for actions taken by the reader in reliance on the information contained herein without prior consultation with Danzas AEI.