WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) – U.S. Transportation Secretary
Ray LaHood said on Tuesday he planned to resign, marking the
latest departure from President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as the
administration tries to find the root cause of safety problems
with Boeing’s Dreamliner plane.

The Republican and former Illinois congressman brought a
bipartisan element to the Democratic president’s team, and his
legislative skills helped Obama win approval of a new highway
funding bill last year that had been stalled due to political
bickering.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Tuesday he planned to resign, marking the latest departure from President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as the administration tries to find the root cause of safety problems with Boeing’s Dreamliner plane.

The Republican and former congressman brought a bipartisan element to the Democratic president’s team, and his legislative skills helped Obama win approval of a new highway funding bill last year that had been stalled due to political bickering.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States warned the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda on Monday not to retaliate against U.S. restrictions on Internet gambling by suspending copyrights or patents, a move that would authorize the “theft” of intellectual property like movies and music.

“The United States has urged Antigua to consider solutions that would benefit its broader economy. However, Antigua has repeatedly stymied these negotiations with certain unrealistic demands,” Nkenge Harmon, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A leading U.S. business group urged President Barack Obama on Thursday to build on trade successes of the past two years by seeking legislation that would allow him to submit trade deals to Congress for straight up-or-down votes without amendments.

“I think the message to the president and the administration is: It’s time to engage the business community and Congress in discussions about Trade Promotion Authority,” Myron Brilliant, senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told reporters at a briefing on the group’s 2013 trade priorities.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. trade panel gave final approval on Wednesday to anti-dumping duties on hundreds of millions of dollars of residential washing machines from Mexico and South Korea in a case brought by American manufacturer Whirlpool (WHR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 6-0 that the century-old U.S. manufacturer had been materially harmed, or at least was threatened with material injury, by the imports.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Tuesday he was stepping down as the nation’s top trade official in late February, opening up a plum economic post as President Barack Obama searches for more women and minorities for his Cabinet.

White House international economic affairs adviser Mike Froman had been considered the front-runner to succeed Kirk, but sources familiar with his thinking said he was likely to stay in his current job, which allows him to weigh in on issues ranging from energy and climate change to trade and international finance.

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – U.S. auto manufacturers on
Thursday urged the Obama administration to fight Japanese
efforts to revive their economy by weakening the yen to boost
exports, saying the practice would hurt the U.S. jobs market.

Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy
Council, put Japan’s actions in a harsh light in an interview
with Reuters. He said Japan was engaging in “currency
manipulation,” which he said “makes it more difficult to create
jobs in the United States.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House international economic affairs adviser Mike Froman is considered the top candidate for U.S. Trade Representative, but pressure on President Barack Obama to fill his second term Cabinet with more women and minorities could lead to a different decision.

Two business officials said they expected Froman to get the job, but the White House has not signaled that a decision has been made.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States said on Tuesday it plans to negotiate an agreement with the European Union, Japan and 18 other economies to remove trade and investment barriers in services ranging from finance to express delivery.

Washington, the 27-nation EU and a mix of other developed and developing countries have been exploring the idea of launching talks on an International Services Agreement (ISA) for nearly a year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Imagine a future of broken bridges, roads, sewer systems, power grids, airports and not enough money to fix them or to build new ones to serve an expanding population. What would that cost the United States in terms of lost jobs?

A study released on Tuesday by the American Society of Civil Engineers says the cost in terms of lost jobs would be 3.5 million by 2020. It also projected a cumulative loss of $3.1 trillion in economic output over the same period without $1.1 trillion in additional funding for infrastructure projects.