On Tuesday, January 30, 2024, the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) held its fifth ministerial meeting in Washington, D.C. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, and senior National Security Council Staff were joined by EU TTC co-chairs European Commission Executive Vice Presidents Margrethe Vestager and Valdis...

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Agreement Relating to Supply Chain Resilience, generally referred to as the Supply Chain Agreement, will enter into force on February 24, 2024. This is a critical step in bringing the landmark, first-of-its kind agreement into action and promoting coordination among the IPEF partners on...

Today, the U.S. Departments of Commerce, State, Treasury, Homeland Security, Labor and the U.S. Trade Representative published a Supplemental Business Advisory for Burma given significant additional developments since the previous advisory was issued in January 2022. This supplemental advisory highlights the additional sectors and activities of concern in the country, as well as the actions taken...

Economic Growth Due to Increases in Jobs, Incomes, and Spending Today, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported fourth quarter real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 exceeding expectations. Growth was in large part due to an increase in Americans making and spending more. In addition, the economy...

Thank you for that introduction. Welcome, everyone, to the Commerce Department. And thank you all for your willingness to serve on this commission. America’s growing and vibrant Hispanic communities are a driving force in our economy. I saw it firsthand during my time as Governor of Rhode Island, where the Hispanic population grew by nearly 40 percent in the last decade. More than 375,000 of our...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded NOAA $5 million to support the conversion of the Mauna Loa atmospheric baseline observatory in Hawaii to a net-zero carbon facility. The award, part of $250 million in funding announced by DOE’s Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies (AFFECT) program, will help NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory purchase solar panels and...

NOAA’s satellites, known for their pivotal role in tracking weather and climate, were behind the rescue of 350 people from harrowing, life-threatening ordeals in the U.S. and its surrounding waters in 2023. NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are part of the global Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, or COSPAS-SARSAT, which uses a network of U.S. and international...

As we welcome 2024, we have compiled a list of the top stories which not only generated the most attention in 2023, but also encompassed the Commerce Department’s mission to create conditions for economic growth and opportunity for all Americans. These stories reflect many of Commerce’s top priorities and accomplishments for the year including bringing affordable, reliable high-speed Internet...