The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade updated its collection of overseas business guides for British exporters by adding links to new market guides, according to an Oct. 28 notice. The new links include market guides to Canada, Colombia, France, Israel, the Ivory Coast, Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Slovenia and Vietnam.

The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade updated its guidance on trade sanctions, arms embargoes and other restrictions, the DIT said in an Oct. 28 notice. The guidance includes a list of countries with current sanctions, a summary of the U.K.’s key sanctions measures and what the sanctions prohibit.

The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation released a guidance on Russian sanctions after the U.K. leaves the European Union, expanding on details of the U.K.’s financial and investment sanctions. The guidance provides information on where trade and financial sanctions may overlap, as well as information on Russian asset freezes, blocked payments, loan and credit arrangements and sanctions exceptions. The guidance also provides a set of frequently asked questions.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Oct. 28 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson suggested that the U.S. and the United Nations should remove sanctions from North Korea because they are not solving the problem.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is leading a trade mission to West Africa to try to expand markets for U.S. exporters, the USDA said in an Oct. 25 press release. The trade mission includes Stephen Censky, deputy secretary of agriculture, and officials from more than 40 U.S. companies and trade groups. USDA will travel to Ghana and will hear from buyer groups based in Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Nigeria, and Senegal. The USDA released a report on the opportunities for U.S. exporters in West Africa (see 1910250023) and recently returned from a trade mission to Vietnam (see 1910180052).

The State Department is seeking comments on an information collection related to disclosures of the Arms Export Control Act, according to an Oct. 28 notice. In a summary of the information collection, the State Department said it has developed a “discrete form” for submitting voluntary disclosures “as part of an IT modernization project designed to streamline the collection and use of information by” the Directorate of Defense Trade controls. The form will allow DDTC and submitters “to more easily track submissions,” the notice said. Comments are due Nov. 27.

An owner of a large freight forwarding company pleaded guilty to an antitrust charge after she fixed prices for international freight forwarding services, the Justice Department said Oct. 24. Francis Alvarez and others fixed prices from 2010 until 2014 for her Houston-based company, which shipped to Honduras, the Justice Department said. The charges constitute a violation of the Sherman Act and Alvarez faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence and a $1 million fine. She has agreed to cooperate with an ongoing investigation of the nationwide price-fixing conspiracy.

The House is scheduled to mark up a bill on Oct. 29 that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank until 2029, increase the bank’s lending authority and introduces a “temporary board” in a situation where the bank lacks a quorum in the future. The bill, introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., would also rename the bank the Export Finance Agency. Among the most notable portions of the bill is a provision that would increase the bank’s lending power gradually over several years, from $145 billion in 2020 to $175 billion in 2026.

China’s free trade agreement with Mauritius will give Mauritius duty-free access to 96 percent of Chinese tariff lines as the two sides pledged to continue reducing tariffs on other items, according to an Oct. 28 post from Dezan Shira & Associates. The agreement, announced Oct. 17 (see 1910170027), gives Mauritius duty-free access to about 8,000 Chinese products and covers more than 40 service sectors, the post said. The two countries plan to eliminate tariffs both ways on more than 90 percent of traded goods, the post said.