Canada is studying several policy and legislative options to strengthen its forced labor enforcement, including one that could establish new import traceability requirements for certain goods and another that could require importers to pay all fees associated with imports detained for forced labor.
The EU's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which could take effect for some companies Dec. 30, may violate World Trade Organization rules and should be modified to ensure it's compliant, according to a new policy brief released by the European Center for International Political Economy (ECIPE).
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao urged U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo this week to lift U.S. semiconductor export restrictions against China (see 2211010042 and 2302020034) and reverse its proposed import restrictions on Chinese connected vehicles (see 2409220001), saying the two countries need to reach a clearer understanding around their national security-related trade policies.
Canada’s Standing Committee on International Trade last week voted against delaying until April the implementation of the Canada Border Services Agency’s new Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) system, setting up the new system to go live as planned on Oct. 21, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a message to its members. The committee, part of Canada’s House of Commons, struck down the motion 6-5, the NCBFAA said.
The European Commission is proposing to delay its upcoming deforestation reporting requirements by one year to allow member states and third-country exporters to be better prepared and “fully establish the necessary due diligence systems” for all products covered by the new rules. The law is scheduled to take effect for most companies Dec. 30 and for small companies June 30, but the commission is proposing to extend those dates to Dec. 30, 2025, and June 30, 2026, respectively.
With de minimis imports to the EU climbing to about $8.5 billion worth of goods from January to August this year, the European Commission is considering either changing its de minimis threshold or tackling the surge of Chinese exports in this channel in another way, the South China Morning Post reported from Brussels. That value of de minimis imports increased 61% compared with two years earlier, the newspaper said.
Beijing “firmly opposes” a proposed rule issued by the U.S. this week that could ban imports of certain connected vehicles made with certain hardware or software from China (see 2409220001), saying it has “no factual basis, violates the principles of market economy and fair competition, and is a typical protectionist practice.”
China is investigating American clothing company PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and other major fashion retailers, for possible inclusion on its so-called unreliable entity list, China's Ministry of Commerce announced Sept. 24, according to an unofficial translation. China said PVH is suspected of violating “normal market trading principles” for products related to the country’s Xinjiang region, along with the “interruption of normal transactions with Chinese companies, other organizations or individuals, and adoption of discriminatory measures.”
The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body on Sept. 23 agreed to establish a dispute panel in China's challenge of certain U.S. tax credits for electric vehicles under the Inflation Reduction Act. Ahead of the Sept. 23 meeting of the DSB, China submitted a second request for a dispute settlement panel to assess whether the tax credits violate WTO rules.
Canada's trade minister, Mary Ng, said Canada will challenge the conclusions of the fifth administrative reviews of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on softwood lumber from Canada through the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, as Canada calls the NAFTA successor.