ITC INVESTIGATES ELIMINATING CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT TARIFFS

ITC INVESTIGATES ELIMINATING CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT TARIFFS    The U.S. International Trade Commission requests input from the industry for its investigation into the “probable economic impact” of eliminating tariffs for certain imported agricultural products.
   The study will consider the complete elimination of tariffs on certain agricultural products from the 33 country members of the Free Trade Area of the Americas and a 50 percent reduction of these same product tariffs from World Trade Organization member countries.
   The ITC study — “Agriculture: Probable Economic Effects on the U.S. Economy of Eliminating or Reducing U.S. Tariffs on Certain Products from FTAA Countries and WTO Members” — was requested by the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office on August 16.
   The ITC said it would “conduct a quantitative analysis of the likely trade and economywide impacts of eliminating the agricultural tariffs specified.” The agency will submit a “confidential” report to the USTR by Nov. 15.
   A list of the agricultural product tariffs may be obtained on-line at https://dockets,usitc.gov/eol/public (select “332” at the left and scroll to the bottom for the link to this investigation).
   Written comments must be mailed to the ITC (Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 East Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20436) by no later than Sept. 19.