The first humanitarian exports were sent through the joint mechanism created by the Treasury and State departments nearly three months after the channel was created (see 1910250057), Treasury said Jan. 30. Treasury said the mechanism successfully facilitated transactions from a “humanitarian channel” in Switzerland that sent cancer and transplant-related drugs to Iranian medical patients. The channel is subject to “strict due diligence measures,” Treasury said, adding that the successful transactions prove “a model for facilitating further humanitarian exports to Iran.”

The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:​​

The World Customs Organization published a list of changes in the upcoming 2022 version of the Harmonized System tariff nomenclature, it said in a press release. The 351 sets of amendments include 77 affecting tariff provisions for agriculture, food and tobacco, 58 in the chemical sector, 31 in the wood sector, 21 for textiles, 27 for base metals, 63 in the machinery, electrical and electronic goods sector, and 22 affecting the transport sector, the WCO said. The amendments were recommended by the WCO’s Harmonized System Committee in June, and took effect in January after a six-month period passed with no objections to the proposals by WCO member states (see 2001080064). The changes must be implemented in the tariff schedules of WCO members, including the U.S., by Jan. 1, 2022.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade issued guidance on trade agreements with non-European Union countries in place during and after the Brexit transition period, according to a Jan. 29 notice. The guidance includes information on when the trade agreements take effect, how long they will remain in effect, which agreements are still in negotiations and more. The transition period begins Feb. 1 and will end after this year.

The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade issued a Jan. 29 guidance on bidding for overseas contracts during the Brexit transition period. During the transition, U.K. companies will continue to have access to government procurement agreements “in the same way as if the UK were a Member State of the [European Union],” the notice said. The U.K. said it intends to join the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement -- an agreement among 20 WTO members -- as an “independent member” at the end of the transition period.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade clarified that current export licensing arrangements will continue to apply until the end of the Brexit transition period on Dec. 31, the DIT said in a Jan. 29 notice. This includes exports of “strategic items,” military items, firearms, dual-use items and more, the DIT said. The U.K.’s open general export license for dual-use exports to the European Union is not required to export dual-use items to the EU during the transition period, the notice said.

President Donald Trump, in a signing ceremony Jan. 29, said he would be ending the devastation that NAFTA brought and said that its replacement will strengthen what he called the country's blue-collar boom, “delivering massive gains for the loyal citizens of our nation.” Democrats, who were not invited to the White House ceremony, during their own press conferences ahead of the signing, emphasized how much they'd changed what the president submitted to them, by strengthening labor enforcement and environmental provisions, and removing patent protections for certain kinds of prescription drugs.

China’s Foreign Ministry criticized a U.S. bill passed by the House Jan. 28 that would sanction Chinese officials for government interference in certain Tibetan affairs, calling the bill a breach of international norms. During a Jan. 29 press conference, a ministry spokesperson said China is “firmly opposed to” the bill and urged the U.S. to “correct its mistake,” according to a transcript in English released by the Chinese Embassy in Washington. The bill, which modifies the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002, would require the U.S. to sanction Chinese officials who interfere in the succession of the Dalai Lama, an effort that the bill calls a “serious human rights abuse.”

A Colombian national and Florida resident was sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally exporting firearms to the National Liberation Army, a designated foreign terrorist organization in South America, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 28 press release. Francisco Joseph Arcila Ramirez worked with two others to illegally buy firearms in south Florida -- including four Draco 7.62mm caliber AK-style pistols and two Zastava M92 7.62mm AK-style pistols -- and ship them to Barranquilla, Colombia. The shipments also included about 100 AK-47 ammunition magazines and were hidden in “Husky air-compressors” bought by Arcila at a Home Depot. Arcila also planned future sales with a weapons broker for the terrorist group, which would have included more firearms magazines and components in the “coming months,” the Justice Department said. Arcila was paid about 60 million Colombian pesos for the goods, the press release said.

Singapore recently finished negotiations with Chile and New Zealand on a digital trade agreement, according to a Jan. 24 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The agreement will “boost trade,” improve the use of “electronic documentation for cross border-trade” and establish protocols for “e-invoicing, personal information protection, cybersecurity, online consumer protection, digital identities, fintech, artificial intelligence, data flows and data innovation,” the report said. The framework will also allow the customs agencies of the three countries to share electronic trade documents by connecting their respective national single windows, the report said. The countries have “committed” to ratify the agreement by April, but a formal date has not yet been announced.