The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 25 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The European Union will require additional customs duties on U.S. sweetcorn, women's trousers, crane lorries and metal glasses frames in response to Byrd amendment collections, the European Commission said in a notice published in the Official Journal on April 24. "As a result of the United States' failure to bring the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA) in compliance with its obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements," the EC imposed an additional 0.3 percent duty on those products. CBP continues to distribute antidumping and countervailing duties under CDSOA even though that law has been repealed.
The U.S. asked China to end its import restrictions on scrap and asked it to consider less trade-restrictive measures at the World Trade Organization. The European Union began the discussion about China's actions on recycled materials, and received support from five other countries critical of the practice. Countries that send scrap to China have been complaining at the WTO for months (see 1708220009), and although it did not end up banning waste imports, the restrictions it did impose are having "a huge impact on the global recycling chain," South Korean representatives said at the WTO on April 20. These restrictions are separate from the 25 percent tariff China is levying on U.S. aluminum scrap in retaliation for the Section 232 tariffs. The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries says that the U.S. exported $2.34 billion in aluminum scrap in 2017, and about half of those exports went to China.
The U.S. -- supported by the European Union, Japan, Mexico and Canada -- asked the World Trade Organization's Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures to examine below-market financing and debt forgiveness as a market distorting practice. The countries, speaking at a meeting in Geneva on April 24, said that counter-cyclical financing during recessions and later debt-to-equity conversions create "distortions in the domestic market that spill over into the international economy and distort international trade patterns." They suggested the WTO rules be amended to consider the subsidy as creating serious prejudice, which would allow other countries to use export displacement as an argument for countervailing duties, according to a paper they presented at the meeting.
Legislation in Mexico that critics said would undermine Mexico's new labor protections (see 1804190032) failed to pass, and unions are celebrating. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said working people stopped "legislation aimed at maintaining a rigged system that benefits corporations and the mega-rich," and said that there's a possibility a renegotiated NAFTA can bolster union organizing rights.
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 23 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The U.S. agreed on April 19 to enter consultations on its Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum with the European Union and India. The action follows its announcement April 17 that it would consult with China on the matter. In all cases, the U.S. says the tariffs are not safeguards, as the countries allege, and that they are not subject to World Trade Organization dispute settlement because they are matters of national security.