Focus on facilitating trade

I'm not sure what's news here, but it may be worth noting that CBP is trying to be more sensitive to trade issues. Just slid across the inbox from CBP:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham today announced the publication of the CBP Trade Strategy at the annual CBP Trade Symposium in Washington, D.C. The trade strategy is the first published document that explains how CBP will accomplish its mission of facilitating legitimate trade.

The CBP Trade Strategy covers the next five years, when the volume of imports and the complexity of trade laws are expected to grow. In fiscal year 2008, CBP processed imports worth $2.2 trillion and collected $32 billion in revenue.

The four major goals of the trade strategy are to:

· facilitate legitimate trade and ensure compliance;

· enforce U.S. trade laws and collect accurate revenue;

· advance national and economic security; and

· intensify modernization of CBP’s trade processes.

The Trade Strategy reflects CBP’s layered approach to trade facilitation and enforcement, which expands pre-entry and post-release compliance verification programs to reduce unnecessary delays for legitimate imports at the borders.

For more information on CBP’s Trade Strategy, please log on to http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/.