Exactly how the U.S. Trade Representative has agreed to change the 10-year biologics exclusivity period in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is unclear, but insiders are saying it will be less favorable to the pharmaceutical industry.
The State Department sanctioned Alejandro Sinibaldi, Guatemala’s former minister of communications, infrastructure, and housing, for “significant corruption,” according to a Dec. 3 press release. The State Department is also sanctioning family members Maria Jose Saravia Mendoza, Alejandro Sinibaldi Saravia and his two minor children.
The Dec. 3 House passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 will have serious repercussions for U.S.-China trade talks if the bill becomes law, a China Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson threatened on Dec. 4. H.R. 649 and the companion S. 178 that cleared the Senate in September demand tough U.S. sanctions on China over reports of government-run detention centers imprisoning millions of Muslim-minority Chinese citizens in Xinjiang.
Newly recommended export-related initiatives (see 1912020048), including an effort by CBP to reduce minor “parking ticket” violations, will better allow U.S. enforcement agencies to target serious export violators, Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee members said during a Dec. 4 meeting. CBP’s Export Modernization Working Group hopes fewer minor penalties will clear up enforcement officials to do more large-scale work. “It should help the enforcement side to have time to actually get the bad guys,” said Brenda Barnes, a COAC member and part of the EMWG.
Wiley Rein promoted Lori Scheetz, previously of counsel, to partner in the firm's international trade practice, it said in a news release. Scheetz works on “export compliance and national security matters, with a focus on U.S. export controls and economic sanctions,” according to her bio. Derick Holt, previously an associate, was promoted to of counsel, the firm said. Holt works on “antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, export controls, and sanctions compliance program,” according to his bio.
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
Malawi customs agents will be offered accredited training as part of a collaboration launched Dec. 2 between the Malawi Revenue Authority and the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, according to a press release. The collaboration will “introduce a new licensing framework” for clearing agents and provide them with a training course and exam to ensure they can appropriately “facilitate trade” in line with Malawi regulations. The training, which will start in late 2020, will be mandatory for all customs clearing agents, the press release said. New requirements for customs officers will be “phased in over an adjustment period” to give agents “adequate time” to become licensed. The project will support Malawi’s efforts to implement the World Trade Organization’s Trade facilitation Agreement, which it ratified in 2017.
France and the EU will retaliate if the U.S. goes forward with new tariffs on French goods, according to multiple reports. The proposed new U.S. tariffs are a result of a Section 301 investigation into the digital services tax in France. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the tax unfairly targets U.S. companies.
Australia’s Department of Defense’s export controls division will be closed noon on Dec. 20 until Jan. 2, 2020, the agency said in a Dec. 2 notice. Applications will not be processed during that time. Applications received after Dec. 2 may not be completed before the agency closes and will continue to be processed after Jan. 2, the notice said. The agency urges applicants to contact the Defense Export Controls division “should you urgently require a permit” after Dec. 2.
China and El Salvador signed a memorandum of understanding to create a “working group on trade” to ease trade restrictions between the two nations, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a Dec. 3 press release, according to an unofficial translation. The memorandum aims to “further enhance the quality and level of bilateral trade” and strengthen “economic investment,” China said.