mutually advantageous concessions with respect to Israel provided for by the USIFTA, the President may proclaim such withdrawal, suspension, modification, or continuance of any duty, or such continuance of existing duty-free or excise treatment, or such additional duties as the President determines to be required or appropriate to carry out the USIFTA.
5. In order to maintain the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to agricultural trade with Israel, on July 27, 2004, the United States entered into an agreement with Israel concerning certain aspects of trade in agricultural products during the period January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2008 (the "2004 Agreement").
6. In Proclamation 7826 of October 4, 2004, consistent with the 2004 Agreement, the President determined, pursuant to section 4(b) of the USIFTA Act, that it was necessary in order to maintain the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to Israel provided for by the USIFTA, to provide duty-free access into the United States through December 31, 2008, for specified quantities of certain agricultural products of Israel.
7. In 2008, 2009, and 2010, the United States and Israel entered into agreements to extend the period that the 2004 Agreement was in force for 1-year periods to allow additional time for the two governments to conclude an agreement to replace the 2004 Agreement.
8. To carry out the extension agreements, the President in Proclamation 8334 of December 31, 2008; Proclamation 8467 of December 23, 2009; and Proclamation 8618 of December 21, 2010, modified the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) of the United States to provide duty-free access into the United States for specified quantities of certain agricultural products of Israel, each time for an additional 1-year period.
9. On December 6, 2011, the United States entered into an agreement with Israel to extend the period that the 2004 Agreement is in force through December 31, 2012, to allow for further negotiations on an agreement to replace the 2004 Agreement.
10. Pursuant to section 4(b) of the USIFTA Act, I have determined that it is necessary, in order to maintain the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to Israel provided for by the USIFTA, to provide duty-free access into the United States through the close of December 31, 2012, for specified quantities of certain agricultural products of Israel.
11. In Proclamation 8742 of October 31, 2011, I modified the HTS to promote the uniform application of the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System and to alleviate unnecessary administrative burdens. Those modifications became effective on December 3, 2011. Certain conforming changes to the HTS were inadvertently omitted from Annex I to that proclamation. I have determined that certain technical corrections to the HTS are necessary to provide the tariff treatment intended to certain products that were subject to the modifications made in Proclamation 8742.
12. Section 604 of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2483) authorizes the President to embody in the HTS the substance of the relevant provisions of that Act, and of other Acts affecting import treatment, and actions thereunder, including the removal, modification, continuance, or imposition of any rate of duty or other import restriction.
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