Trade

Today, the Office of the United States Trade Representative has released its annual "Special 301" report which details the "adequacy and effectiveness of U.S. trading partners’ protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR)."

The report can be found here (it's a 59 page PDF).

From the press release:

• USTR designates Ukraine a Priority Foreign Country (PFC) under the Special 301 statute due to severe deterioration of enforcement in the areas of government use of pirated software and piracy over the Internet, as well as denial of fair and equitable market access through the authorization and operation of copyright collecting societies;
• USTR reports grave concerns about misappropriation of trade secrets in China, and incremental progress on a few of China’s many other significant IPR and market access challenges;
• USTR adds Barbados, Bulgaria, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago to the Watch List due to specific problems identified in the report;
• USTR announces that while El Salvador and Spain are not listed in the Report, USTR will conduct out-of-cycle reviews to assess progress on IPR challenges identified in this year’s reviews of those countries; 
• Canada moves from the Special 301 Priority Watch List to the Watch List in recognition of significant progress on copyright issues, while USTR continues to work with Canada to address several remaining IPR concerns; and
• Brunei Darussalam and Norway move off of the Special 301 Watch List.

According to statistics from the Commerce Department, in 2012 Texas was the #1 exporting state in the country--and by a mile, too:

• Texas total exports for 2012 were $265.4bn compared to #2 California with $161.7bn

• Top destinations for Texas exports in 2012: Mexico ($94.8bn); Canada ($23.7bn); China ($10.3bn); Brazil ($10.0bn);  Netherlands ($9.5bn); South Korea ($7.8bn); Venezuela ($6.9bn); Singapore ($6.3); Colombia ($5.6bn); Japan ($4.7bn)

•  Texas' top exporting industry segments for 2012: Petroleum and Coal Product ($57.2bn); Chemicals ($47.0); Computer and Electronic Products ($45.2); Machinery, except electrical ($29.4); Transportation Equipment ($25.2); Electrical Equipment, Appliances and Components ($9.2); Fabricated Metal Products ($9.0); Primary Metal Manufacturing ($7.9); Food and Kindred Products ($5.4);  Oil and Gas ($5.3); Plastics and Rubber Products ($4.3); Agricultural Products ($4.3)  

It's been announced that the next round of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations will be held in San Diego July 2-10, 2012.