China’s customs agencies have been ordered to increase port restrictions but to streamline certain disease-fighting imports as the country battles the spread of the coronavirus, according to an unofficial translation of a Jan. 27 notice from China’s General Administration of Customs. Customs officials have been told to “strengthen the control” of their ports but set up “special acceptance windows” and “rapid inspection and release” for certain imports, including “imported epidemic prevention and control materials.” Certain imported items, including goods donated to fight pneumonia caused by the virus, will get a “fast-track clearance” at customs gates and ports, according to a Jan. 26 report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. Other items benefiting from “fast clearance” include imported medicines, disinfectant products, protective equipment and medical devices, Xinhua said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement transported a Kazakhstani national back to his home country after he was convicted of international arms trafficking, ICE said in a Jan. 23 press release. Eldar Rezvanov illegally exported defense articles, including firearms and parts, without the proper licenses, the agency said. Rezvanov and a conspirator used aliases to buy the items and lied on federal forms about the final destinations of the exports, ICE said. They smuggled the items onto overseas flights using “false shipping inventories” and “concealed the disassembled firearm components by taping them to metal kitchen utensils before shipping them overseas.” In 2017, Rezvanov attempted to export 395 firearms parts, 75 magazines, and 20 barrels and slides in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. Later that year, Rezvanov again tried to export a range of defense-related goods -- including seven pistols, nearly 1,000 magazines and 453 firearms parts -- to Chechnya.
A Florida business owner was sentenced to 40 months in prison for conspiring to illegally export “power generating equipment” to Iran, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 26 press release. James Meharg worked with United Kingdom and Iranian citizens to export a “large turbine” and parts to Iran while trying to hide the shipment, the press release said. Meharg’s sentence includes three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
The members of the Maine delegation -- Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an Independent; and Democratic House members Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden -- sent a letter to the U.S. trade representative asking that he reveal the dollar value of China's purchase promises for U.S. lobster. Lobster sales to China fell after retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent on the shellfish in response to the first round of Section 301 tariffs.
More countries will try to operate separately from the U.S. financial system in an attempt to trade without fear of penalties from the U.S.’s wide-ranging sanctions regimes, sanctions experts said. Although some countries have struggled to operate outside the U.S. dollar -- such as Venezuela and Cuba -- better positioned countries may find success in the future, the experts said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control reached a $1.125 million settlement with Eagle Shipping International for 36 violations of U.S. sanctions against Burma, OFAC said in a Jan. 27 notice. The ship management company, which has headquarters in Connecticut, illegally transported “sea sand” for Myawaddy Trading Limited, a company on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List, the notice said. Eagle Shipping allegedly provided transportation services from Burma to Singapore for a “land reclamation project” for Myawaddy that involved transactions worth about $1.8 million.
In a letter to the Defense Department, Sens. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said they are concerned about reports that the agency objected to a proposed rule from the Commerce Department that would have further restricted foreign sales to Huawei. The senators asked the Defense Department to provide information within 60 days about whether the agency objected to the rule, its rationale for doing so and how its objection impacts the agency’s “simultaneous attempts” to prevent allies to reject Huawei technology.
A group of 17 World Trade Organization members announced plans for an interim appeals process to settle disputes between members, according to a Jan. 24 joint statement. The members, including the European Union and China but not the U.S., said they will put in place “contingency measures” to allow for appeals of WTO panel reports “in disputes among ourselves.” The system would only be in place until a reformed WTO appellate body “becomes fully operational,” the statement said.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Jan. 24 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
Thailand issued a draft of proposed value-added tax regulations that would impact foreign e-commerce operators and “electronic platforms” in the Thai market, according to a Jan. 23 KPMG post. The regulations clarify the term for “goods” would exclude any “intangible assets” transferred over a network, and specify definitions for “electronic services” and “electronic platforms.” The regulations would also make changes to the country’s “self-assessed VAT regime” and introduce an electronic VAT registration system.