The Trump administration is continuing sanctions against North Korea, the White House said June 21, citing the risk it poses to U.S. national security. The White House pointed to North Korea’s “proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material,” the destabilizing actions of the country’s government that “imperil” U.S. trading partners in the region, and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The sanctions were scheduled to expire June 26. The move extends an executive order from June 26, 2008, that declared a national emergency with regard to North Korea.

The European Union Council renewed sanctions against Russian people and entities for the “illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation,” according to a June 20 council decision. The sanctions ban all imports into the EU originating in Crimea or Sevastopol except if those goods were “granted a certificate of origin by the Government of Ukraine,” according to the original decision. The sanctions were renewed for one year until June 23, 2020.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four Nicaraguan government officials who allegedly “persecute Nicaraguan citizens,” “enact repressive laws,” silence the press and restrict medical care to the country’s people, Treasury said in a June 21 press release. OFAC is sanctioning Gustavo Eduardo Porras Cortes, Orlando Jose Castillo Castillo, Sonia Castro Gonzalez and Oscar Salvador Mojica Obregon.

The World Customs Organization will be reconsidering some classification decisions at the next Harmonized System Committee meeting in September, according to law firm Sandler Travis. The reconsideration involves classification decisions of "at least two products -- certain vitamins and certain RF generators and RE matching networks -- after reservations were filed by the U.S. and others against the classification decisions," Sandler Travis said in a June 20 email.

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security added five Chinese entities to its Entity List, the latest escalation in the U.S. and China’s ongoing trade war. The move restricts the entities' ability to purchase certain U.S. products and will require licenses for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations with a review policy of presumption of denial. The entities are: Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit, Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology, Higon, Sugon and Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology. The Wuxi Jiangnan Institute is owned by owned by the Chinese government, Commerce said.

In the June 20 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Union is adopting changes to its system of tariff-rate quotas for agricultural and industrial products, it said in a notice published June 20 in the EU Official Journal. The changes include the creation of six new TRQs, increases to quantity for three TRQs, and the elimination of five TRQs, many because implementation of internationally-agreed tariff cuts for information technology goods mean they are no longer necessary. The changes mostly take effect July 1.

The European Union announced its latest round of tariff suspensions for goods that are otherwise unavailable in the EU, it said in a notice published June 20. Similar to what the U.S. Miscellaneous Tariff Bill allows, the duty suspensions allow products to be imported at reduced or zero duty rates. The EU is adding 97 products not currently covered by duty suspensions to its list, and modifying the conditions for 47 products that are already listed as covered by duty suspensions, it said. The EU is also ending 96 duty suspensions, either because it they are no longer in the “interest of the Union,” conflict with EU sustainability goals, or are no longer necessary because of internationally agreed tariff cuts for information technology goods. The changes apply from July 1.

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

The 2019 tariff rate quota for "food preparations containing more than 10 per cent but less than 50 per cent on a dry weight basis of milk solids, not in retail packaging" is nearly full, Global Affairs Canada said in a message to industry. As of March 12, 2019, there was only 14 kg of the access quantity remaining, it said in the June 19 message. "As soon as the TRQ level is fully reached, a broadcast message will be released stating that the TRQ is closed for the 2019 quota year and specific import permits under the tariff rate quota will not be issued in respect to the relevant goods." Also, "General Import Permit No. 100 – Eligible Agricultural Goods (GIP No. 100) will cover, for the balance of the 2019 quota year, unlimited imports classified under the 'over access commitment' tariff item number at the 'over access' tariff rate."