TRADE. Free Trade Agreements Still Moving The White House could submit implementing legislation for the US-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to Congress in the near future. The agreement is expected to move relatively quickly once it is introduced. The FTA was signed a year ago and supporters hope to put the agreement before Congress this fall. Two-way goods trade between the US and Bahrain was $887 million in 2003. US goods exports to Bahrain in 2003 totaled $509 million. Progress was also made during the fourth round of negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement between the US and Thailand. There was reportedly forward movement in almost all areas. Total trade between the US and Thailand was $24 billion in 2004, up nearly 11% from the previous year and nearly doubling in the last decade. US goods exports totaled $6.4 billion, an increase of 10.3% since 2003. Exports of Thai goods to the US grew 15.8% last year to $17.6 billion. . Aranoff Sworn in as ITC Commissioner Shara Aranoff, a Democrat from Maryland, was sworn in as Commissioner of the US International Trade Commission. She was confirmed by the US Senate on July 29, 2005 for the term expiring on December 16, 2012. Prior to her appointment, Commissioner Aranoff was Senior International Trade Counsel on the Democratic staff of the US Senate Committee on Finance, where she was responsible for legislative and policy issues on international trade and investment, including the Trade Act of 2002; negotiations involving the World Trade Organization, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and numerous free trade agreements; trade remedy laws; Trade Adjustment Assistance; and trade-related environment and labor issues. From June 1993 until her Senate Finance Committee appointment in January 2001, she served as an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of the General Counsel at the ITC. Earlier in her career, Aranoff was an Associate at the Washington, DC law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, specializing in international trade and public international law. Commissioner Aranoff has a bachelor of arts degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School.   American Wire Producers Association |
