President Donald Trump said he won't lift current U.S. tariffs, but also won't add tariffs on any more Chinese imports "for at least the time being." He said during a press conference at the G20 Summit in Japan that negotiations will resume "where we left off to see if we can make a deal."

Mark Morgan, acting director of ICE since May, will become the acting commissioner at CBP, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said in a June 27 news release. Morgan's formal position will be CBP "Chief Operating Officer and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner," Homeland Security said. Acting CBP Commissioner John Sanders, who was also COO of the agency, recently resigned from his post, effective July 5 (see 1906250028). ICE Deputy Director Matthew Albence will take over as acting director, McAleenan said.

Even as mercantilistic policies spread, José Raúl Perales said there's good news in global trade -- developing countries' commitment to trade facilitation. Perales was speaking on a panel at the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference in Washington June 27.

In the June 27 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

Russia renewed a ban on food imports from the U.S., European Union member states and others until Dec. 31, 2020, according to an unofficial translation of a June 24 Russian government notice and a post on the EU Sanctions blog. The ban was originally scheduled to last through Dec. 31, 2019, and also bans food imports from Canada, Australia, Norway, Iceland, Albania, Montenegro, Liechtenstein and Ukraine.

Laos recently set new certificate requirements for non-resident importers and exporters that were set to take effect June 27, according to an alert from the law firm Tilleke & Gibbons. Under the new regulation, importers and exporters in Laos that have no registered business in the country will require a Trading Rights Certificate from the Department of Import and Export in order to sell and purchase goods. The goods can’t be sold directly to consumers in Laos, and must be sold through authorized distributors. To be eligible for a certificate, the importer or exporter must operate in accordance with the laws of their country of origin, have not committed an offense or be involved in criminal proceedings related to trade or financial matters, and must come from a World Trade Organization member country.

A bipartisan effort to reduce fentanyl trafficking passed the Senate June 27 on the must-pass defense authorization bill. The amendment would dedicate some money for investigations into which Chinese companies are supplying fentanyl to the U.S. black market. It also requires sanctions on drug manufacturers in China that knowingly provide synthetic opioids to dealers, and would sanction financial institutions that assist those manufacturers or international drug cartels. However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's staff could not say by press time how much money would be appropriated.

Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., plans to introduce a bill that would increase export controls on additional goods deemed by China to be “core technologies,” and impose sanctions on foreign entities or people who violate those controls, according to a "dear colleague" letter Green sent June 26 to solicit co-sponsors. The bill, which he calls the China Technology Transfer Control Act, would “stop the Chinese military’s acquisition of sensitive American technology,” the letter said. “We should not continue to let China steal American property, only for them to turn around and use it to undermine our national security.”

Goods illegally exported through e-commerce is a subject of concern within CBP as there can be even less visibility with them than on the import side, said Daniel Randall, acting director within the Office of Field Operations at CBP, speaking June 27 at the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference in Washington. "CBP currently doesn't have the authority to collect export data," he said. "We collect export data under the [Commerce Department] authority" and the "requirements on the people who provide data are pretty loose," he said. The value of the goods has to be over $2,500 and "it's pretty much a self-declaration," he said. The main threat is with guns or gun parts, which can typically be detected through X-ray scanning, he said. Still, there's been an increase in sophistication in hiding such items for export in recent years, such as within auto parts shipments, he said. A combination of disguised goods and the self-declarations "makes things very difficult," he said.

The United Nations Security Council removed 17 entities from its Iraq sanctions list, the council said in a June 24 press release. The entities are no longer subject to asset freezes. The council did not give reasons for the removals in its press release.