Brazil is poised to overtake the U.S. as the world’s leading soybean producer during the 2019-2020 season, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report released Jan. 2. Although USDA predicts Brazil’s soybean exports will remain about the same compared with the previous year, an “emerging trade truce” between the U.S. and China as a result of the two sides’ phase one deal (see 1912310010) is “almost certain” to dent Brazilian soybean exports and lower the country’s soybean prices. “Brazil will lose some portion of its China export share to the United States” due to the deal, the report said. The Brazilian reaction to the initial U.S.-China trade deal has been “muted” even though it will likely cut into Brazil's agricultural exports, the USDA said. Because the details of the deal are not yet clear and due to other factors affecting U.S. soybean crop yields, most Brazilian soybean exporters have “adopted a wait-and-see approach,” the report said.
China’s General Administration of Customs issued its “Customs Certified Enterprise Standards” for cross-border e-commerce “platform enterprises” and “express carrier operators,” China said in a notice released Dec. 31, according to an unofficial translation. The standards, which take effect March 1, must be adhered to by any cross-border e-commerce platform enterprise that applies for the application of customs certification enterprise management.
The Agriculture Transportation Coalition applauded a California judge’s decision to temporarily block a law the group said would hurt exports through higher trucking costs, according to an emailed press release. The judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocks the legislation, AB 5, which would make it harder for gig economy companies to qualify workers as independent contractors as opposed to employees, according to a Jan. 1 Reuters report. The AgTC said the law, if enacted, would “wreak havoc on trucking in California and on the hundreds of thousands employed in U.S. agriculture/forest products exports.”
The U.S. designated Aas’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) a foreign terrorist organization and sanctioned two of its leaders, Qays (also known as Qais) al-Khazali and Laith al-Khazali, both Iraqi nationals, the State Department said in a Jan. 3 press release. The sanctions are aimed at denying AAH and its leadership the “resources to plan and carry out terrorist attacks,” the State Department said. The agency said the group and its leaders are backed by Iran, and their efforts are aimed at undermining “Iraqi sovereignty.” Qays and Laith were previously sanctioned by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in December (see 1912060022). OFAC updated identifying information for both individuals, according to a Jan. 3 notice.
The State Department sanctioned Leopoldo Cintra Frias, minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, due to human rights violations, the agency said in a Jan. 2 press release. The State Department also sanctioned his children: Deborah Cintra Gonzalez and Leopoldo Cintra Gonzalez. Frias has been involved in supporting the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela, the press release said. Designated individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.
A Texas federal court vacated a $2 million penalty imposed on ExxonMobil by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control for sanctions violations, in a decision issued Dec. 31. The Northern Texas U.S. District Court ruled that OFAC did not provide ExxonMobil “fair notice that their conduct was prohibited.” The decision stems from a lawsuit filed in August (see 1908280031) against OFAC, in which ExxonMobil alleged its business dealings with Rosneft, the Russian oil company owned by sanctioned oligarch Igor Sechin, did not warrant a sanctions penalty.
The Commerce Department is amending the Export Administration Regulations to control exports of software designed to “automate the analysis of geospatial imagery,” Commerce said in an interim final rule. The software will be controlled under the Export Control Classification Number 0Y521 series -- a temporary holding classification that lasts for one year from the day the final rule is published. Although the agency believes it is in the U.S.’s national security interest to “immediately” control this software, Commerce is seeking comments on the interim final rule. Comments are due March 6.
The European Union is considering banning certain batteries that don’t meet environmental standards, potentially affecting battery manufacturers and exporters worldwide, according to a Dec. 31 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. European Commission officials recently said the EU is developing “green standards” for batteries, the report said, and suggested the EU could impose import restrictions on batteries that cause toxic waste, with imports from Southeast Asia particularly at risk.
Vietnamese companies still face a range of non-tariff barriers in the European Union despite signing a free trade agreement in June (see 1906260068), according to a Jan. 1 report appearing in Customs News, the mouthpiece of Vietnam Customs. The barriers are a “major problem,” a Vietnamese officials said, according to the report. Companies are having issues meeting “very stringent environmental, quality, and technical standards” and are having trouble grasping “requirements of EU businesses,” the report said. Vietnam is working to provide “warnings and suggestions for solutions” to domestic companies to help them meet “general requirements” for EU customers and countries, the report said.
China is banning pigs, boars and related products from Indonesia after reports of an African swine fever outbreak in the country, China’s General Administration of Customs said in a notice released Dec. 30, according to an unofficial translation. All illegally imported pigs or boars will be “destroyed” by Chinese customs, the notice said, and violators will be subject to penalties.