Brazil and Mexico recently announced antidumping actions on mainland Chinese products, according to a Dec. 5 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Brazil renewed an amended version of ts antidumping duty on certain mainland Chinese loudspeakers to cover loudspeakers weighing more than 18 grams used in “motor vehicles,” the report said. The duties do not apply to “buzzer type loudspeakers” used on “automotive dashboards,” HKTDC said. The measure imposes a 78.3 percent antidumping duty for the next five years. Mexico began a sunset review of duty on Chinese steel cables, which are currently subject to a duty of “$2.58 per kilogramme,” the report said.

Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:

China’s Ministry of Finance announced new and amended tariffs for imports of certain “technical equipment,” China said in a Dec. 6 press release, according to an unofficial translation. The changes will exempt customs duties for certain imports starting Jan. 1, 2020, and will levy import tariffs on other goods starting July 1, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduling seven trade missions in 2020 in an effort to “grow and diversify” export markets for U.S. agricultural exporters, according to a Dec. 5 press release. The agency is planning trade missions to North Africa, the Philippines, Spain and Portugal, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, Peru, and the United Aram Emirates, making up the most trade missions the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service has planned in one year. USDA conducted several trade missions in 2019 with industry representatives, including to Mexico (see 1911050024), West Africa (see 1910280030) and Vietnam (see 1910110050).

A Canada-based contractor for the U.S. Navy and the company’s president were fined for their involvement in a scheme that included unlicensed exports to China and giving false information to the Commerce Department’s Office of Export Enforcement, the Justice Department said in a Dec. 4 press release. The company, OceanWorks International Corp., and its president, Glen Omer Viau, were fined $84,000 and $25,000, respectively. Viau was credited for time served.

A last-minute push to tighten up the steel and aluminum segment of the auto rules of origin has angered Mexico, media reports said Dec. 6. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, had referred to this last-minute ask as not coming from House Democrats the day before (see 1912050054). The reports say that steel unions asked for a “poured and melted” standard, rather than allowing Mexican processors to take imported slab and make it into sheet metal for cars.

The Commerce Department is seeking comments on proposed revisions relating to the Automated Export System, the Census Bureau said in a notice. The revisions include provisions for the “early release of preliminary steel mill import statistics” and plans by both Census and the Bureau of Industry and Security to draft a notice of proposed rulemaking to clarify the responsibilities of parties in routed and standard export transactions (see 1907100053). Census said it is “working with BIS to receive concurrence in order to publish the NPRM." Census also said the two agencies aim to publish the NPRMs “around the same time” to “allow the trade community an opportunity to review the proposed requirements as they relate to both filing and licensing responsibilities.” Census said its draft rule “has received concurrence” from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Comments are due by Feb. 7, 2020.

A US telecommunications company may have violated U.S. sanctions against Sudan, according to the company’s Dec. 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Comtech Telecommunications Corp. disclosed to the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2014 that it sent a “shipment of modems” to a Canadian customer, which was eventually “incorporated into a communication system” destined for an end-user at the Sudan Civil Aviation Authority, the filing said. OFAC subpoenaed Comtech in 2015 for information about the sale, the company said, which was worth about $288,000. Comtech responded to the subpoena and alerted OFAC of the company’s repair of three modems for a Lebanese customer who may have rerouted the modems from Lebanon to Sudan without the required U.S. license, the filing said. Comtech entered into two tolling agreements with OFAC, including one in November, which extends the statute of limitations in the case through June 2020.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three Iranian militia leaders for attacks on peaceful protests and an Iraqi millionaire for corruption, Treasury said in a Dec. 6 press release. The militia leaders, Qais al-Khazali, Laith al-Khazali and Husayn Falih ‘Aziz al-Lami, opened fire on protesters, killing dozens, Treasury said. Both Qais al-Khazali and Laith al-Khazali are leaders of Iran-backed Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, a militia in Iraq. ‘Aziz al-Lami was tasked by senior militia commanders to suppress protests in Iraq and was a part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. Khamis Farhan al-Khanjar al-Issawi, an Iraqi businessman, allegedly bribed government officials for “personal gain,” including by securing government contracts, Treasury said.

The growing complexity of international trade and the increasing use of front companies have made it more difficult to identify end-users and more challenging for enforcement authorities to prosecute illegal exports, according to a December report by The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In response, the European Union, and other multistate export regimes, should push for more transparency in penalties for export violations, create a forum for information sharing on national enforcement measures and improve reporting on those measures, the report said. The EU should also adopt “clearer” language on complex export concepts and make “detection, investigation and prosecution” a “key focus” of its industry outreach efforts.