China recently removed tax-free quotas for imports of “key technology equipment,” according to a Jan. 24 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Under the changes, issued Jan. 13, certain “crucial components and raw materials” for imports used by qualified Chinese companies whose development is supported by the government will be exempt from import duty and import VAT, the report said. The exemptions will also apply to imports of crucial components and raw materials needed by “nuclear power project managers,” HKTDC said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking applicants for its trade mission to the Philippines, part of an effort to expand market access for U.S. agricultural exports, the USDA said Jan. 23. The mission to Manila, which will take place April 20-23, will include meetings with local importers and “in-depth briefings and site visits” to provide “additional on-the-ground insights” about exporting to the Philippines. Applicants should apply to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service by Feb. 6. The trade mission is one of seven planned for 2020 (see 1912060027).

An Ecuadorian businessman pleaded guilty Jan. 23 to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after he was involved in a $4.4 million bribery scheme with Ecuador’s state-owned oil company, the Justice Department said in a press release. Armengol Alfonso Cevallos Diaz worked with others to bribe officials at Empresa Pública de Hidrocarburos del Ecuador (PetroEcuador) through U.S. companies and bank accounts, the agency said. Diaz helped launder the money through Miami-based shell companies, soliciting bribes from an oil services company for PetroEcuador officials, the press release said. Sentencing is scheduled for April 2, 2020.

President Donald Trump will hold a signing ceremony for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Jan. 29, a White House spokesman said. Canada's Parliament still needs to ratify the deal, and is expected to begin debate Jan. 29.

Despite resumed talk about tariffs on European autos, U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials say they are heartened by the first signs of progress in months for trade talks between the European Union and the United States. Marjorie Chorlins, the Chamber's senior vice president of European affairs, said with a new team at the European Commission, and the positive comments after the meeting in Davos, Switzerland, between President Donald Trump and EC President Ursula von der Leyen, the business community is feeling new hope for an improvement in relations. The officials spoke during a Jan. 24 conference call.

Kosovo plans to pass the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to introduce sanctions against human rights violators, Kosovo’s deputy prime minister said in a Jan. 23 tweet. The measure would impose asset freezes and travel bans on any person or entity sanctioned under the regime. The United Kingdom has said it plans to impose similar sanctions after Brexit (see 2001100046), and Canada has announced plans to build on its human rights sanctions regime (see 1912180034).

There will be more trade uncertainty in 2020 than in 2019 despite a phase one deal with China, trade experts said during a Jan. 22 panel hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. As trade tensions with Europe come to the foreground and as the U.S. potentially negotiates a more comprehensive deal with Japan, one expert said, the administration will not have enough time and resources to start on phase two of the deal with China as it tries to implement the first phase. Another panelist said the U.S. and China will likely come to a “narrow” phase two deal as the election approaches, but that deal will not provide relief for the international trade environment.

The Commerce Department withdrew a proposed rule that would have further restricted foreign sales to Huawei that contain U.S.-origin goods, according to a Jan. 24 report in The Wall Street Journal. Commerce officials withdrew the rule from the Office of Management and Budget after objections from both the Defense and Treasury departments over concerns that the rule could hurt U.S. companies and U.S. national security interests, the report said. The Pentagon specifically voiced concerns that the rule could deprive U.S. companies of an important source of revenue they need for research and development to maintain a technological edge over China, the report said. The rule would have lowered the U.S.-origin threshold on exports to Huawei to 10 percent, but required the State, Commerce, Defense and Energy departments to approve with input from the Treasury, the report said.

Twenty states and Washington, D.C., sued the State and Commerce departments and asked a court to vacate the Trump administration's recently released final rules to transfer gun export controls to Commerce. The rules, scheduled to take effect March 9 (see 2001170030), will transfer export control authority from the State Department to Commerce for a range of firearms, ammunition and other defense items. The lawsuit said the rules will create a dangerous lack of oversight over technology and software used for the 3D printing of guns, and violates federal “notice-and-comment procedures” and the Arms Export Control Act.

Kenya will issue guidance for certain imports and plans to simplify tax incentives for companies operating in the country’s special economic zones in upcoming regulations, according to a Jan. 21 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. A draft version of the regulations clarified how tax incentives can be applied to the movement of goods and services within the zones, the report said. The final regulations will “make clear” that no customs import duties will be applied to imports of goods into the zones, “regardless of whether they are for purposes of storage, exhibition, assembly, manufacture, further processing, or re-exporting,” the HKTDC said. No “trade-related restrictions” will be applied to any imports into the zones, the report said, and companies will not be subject to “minimum export requirements,” minimum quotas or “quantitative restrictions” when selling goods that originate in the zone, the report said. The comment period for the regulations ended Jan. 15, and Kenya has not yet released a date for final publication.