The European Union announced the start of negotiations with five African nations, known as the Eastern and Southern Africa, or ESA, partners, to expand on an existing Economic Partnership Agreement, the European Commission said in an Oct. 2 press release. The EU wants to broaden the initial deal, signed in 2009 and provisionally applied since 2012, to create a comprehensive trade agreement with Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe, the press release said. The new deal should cover technical barriers to trade and intellectual property rights, the EU said. In a statement, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the EU is “fully behind this important endeavour,” which will “boost bilateral trade and investment flows and will contribute to the creation of jobs and further economic growth in our respective regions.”

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Oct. 2 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The Mexican Secretariat of Economy on Sept. 27 published a notice listing the names and tax numbers of maquiladoras that are being terminated from the Industria Manufacturera, Maquiladora y de Servicios de Exportacion (IMMEX) program for non-compliance with reporting requirements. The list of about 170 companies includes those that failed to submit required annual reports, or submitted reports that did not comply with Mexican regulations.

Indonesia’s tax agency issued technical guidance for the value-added tax treatment of temporary imports of goods used to provide “taxable services from overseas,” KPMG said in an Oct. 1 post. Under the guidelines, the taxpayer had to have submitted income tax returns from the last two fiscal years and VAT returns for the last three fiscal periods, the post said. The applicant must then submit a VAT exemption application to Indonesia’s tax agency for acceptance or rejection, which must be provided within three business days, KPMG said. If the application is rejected, the applicant must pay all VATs and luxury goods taxes on the goods within one month after receiving the rejection. Penalties for late tax payments “can result in a penalty assessment equal to 2% per month,” from the time of import until the date of payment, KPMG said.

India updated goods and services tax rates on a range of items and introduced policies to promote exports, according to a notice from India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.

House Democrats and the Trump administration are “on a path to yes” to a bill for ratifying the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Oct. 2. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., leads a USMCA working group that recently sent the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative a “counteroffer to what the administration has proposed,” Pelosi said. “When we can arrive at a place where not only do we have our issues addressed, but that we have enforceability that will make it real for America’s families and farmers, then we can go down that path.” President Donald Trump says he wants USMCA “to go forward, and we are awaiting the language on enforceability” from USTR, Pelosi said. She’s “hopeful” that House Democrats and USTR will reach agreement on USMCA enforceability, “and I’m hopeful that it will be soon,” she said. “We have a good working relationship” with USTR, she said. “Believe me, the quiet you hear is progress.”

Although the U.S. is authorized to levy "prohibitive" tariffs -- up to 100 percent -- on $7.5 billion in European imports, senior U.S. trade officials say they have decided to impose 10 percent tariffs on large civil aircraft and 25 percent tariffs on some European food products, British apparel, blankets and bed linen, some Irish and Scotch whiskey, German or British hand tools, lenses, books and self-propelled heavy equipment. The tariffs will go into effect Oct. 18, the officials said, and a Federal Register notice with the details is expected Oct. 3. The USTR's full list includes more than 150 tariff lines, though some are only part of the eight-digit line.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is removing the Monito gecko (Sphaerodactylus micropithecus), a lizard native to Puerto Rico's Monito Island, from the Endangered Species List, it said in a final rule. Threats to the species have been "eliminated or reduced to the point where it no longer meets the definition of an endangered species or a threatened species," FWS said. The delisting takes effect Nov. 4.

A U.S. manufacturing company disclosed it may have violated U.S. sanctions on Iran, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, H.B. Fuller, said it voluntarily disclosed the possible violations to the Treasury Department in September 2018 after discovering its subsidiaries in Turkey and India may have sold its products to customers who then resold them to Iran. The possible violations began in Turkey in 2011 and in India in 2014, the company’s Sept. 27 filing said, and involved the resale of “hygiene products.”

The United Kingdom must improve its outreach and guidance to the private sector to make sure its post-Brexit sanctions regime is effective, a task force organized by the Royal United Services Institute said in a September report. The task force, composed of former U.K. sanctions officials, policy experts and private sector representatives, said Britain should review and increase staffing within its sanctions regimes and consider adopting some of the sanctions guidance tools provided by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, RUSI said.