Factual question on a national policy issue

I'm having a hard time figuring out where I should stand on so-called "outsourcing" and other trade issues. Here's my question: is there any data that's easily accessible and reliable that documents (1) the trade agreements to which the United States is currently a party and (2) the extent to which those agreements are currently being enforced?

I'm no economist, but my general understanding is that the promotion of trade and the reduction of trade barriers is good for everyone involved, so treaties that accomplish these things seem to make sense in theory. But how are they enforced in fact?

So now direct appeals are discretionary? Huh?

The first two paragraphs of Dan Horn's article in today's Cincinnati Enquirer are as follows:

A convicted drug dealer from Northern Kentucky will try next month to change how federal judges sentence criminals to prison.

Robert Koch, who is serving a 20-year sentence on drug and firearm charges, won the chance to challenge his sentence Tuesday when the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati agreed to hear his case.

This is extremely perplexing. Unlike the Supreme Court, which has discretion to hear or not hear nearly all of the cases that are brought before it, the intermediate federal appellate courts must hear and decide all cases that are properly appealed to them. So I don't know what Horn could be talking about when he says that the Sixth Circuit "agreed to hear" this guy's case, which sounds like a routine criminal appeal. Nor do I have any idea what could have happened Tuesday, since, in the normal course of things, appeals are noticed months in advance of oral argument.

UPDATE: I'm reliably informed that what this story meant to report was that the Sixth Circuit has voted to hear Koch's appeal en banc. That would explain things. It's too bad that wasn't explained at all in the story.