Sigal Mandelker, the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, is resigning to return to the private sector, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Oct. 2. In a statement. Mnuchin called Mandelker a “fierce advocate for effectively leveraging our powerful economic tools to make an impact for a safer world,” according to Reuters. Mnuchin said Mandelker made the decision to resign over the summer.

U.S. companies and trade associations criticized China’s high import tariffs, inconsistent import clearance procedures and restrictive sanitary requirements in comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative ahead of an Oct. 2 hearing on China’s commitment to World Trade Organization obligations.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Oct. 2 released details of his proposal for customs procedures involving Northern Ireland after Brexit (see 1910010070). The proposal seeks to replace the “Irish backstop,” a key hurdle to passage of a transition deal in the U.K. Parliament. The proposed framework would effectively keep Northern Ireland within the EU’s regulatory framework for at least four years after the end of a transition period in 2020, giving the Northern Ireland parliament the ability to exit the proposed framework.

India blocked a first request from the U.S. for the World Trade Organization to form a panel to judge whether the hike in tariffs that India instituted because of the U.S. tariffs on Indian steel and aluminum breaks the rules. The panel is automatically convened after a second request. India delayed retaliating for the Section 232 tariffs for many months, but put them in place after the U.S. removed India from the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson says there will be “customs checks” between Ireland and Northern Ireland after the U.K. leaves the European Union, but that won’t be in the form of “infrastructure checks or controls at the border,” according to a BBC report. It wouldn’t even include customs posts set five or 10 miles back, he said. Johnson has said he will move forward with Brexit with or without a deal on Oct. 31, despite the passage of legislation in parliament that requires him to seek an extension if a transition deal hasn’t been approved by then (see 1909090056). U.K. Brexit minister James Duddridge says the government will be putting out more detail in the coming days on its plans for the Irish border, the BBC said in its report. “Leaked proposals” say the customs controls would be conducted away from the border, mostly where goods originate or at their final destination, the BBC said.

In the Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The Supply-Managed Trade Controls Division of Global Affairs Canada updated its public documents page related to the tariff rate quota administration for supply-managed products, GAC said in an Oct.1 message to industry. "The Notices to Importers have been reformulated in plain language," the agency said. "There is no change to existing ministerial policies. In order to eliminate information duplicated across many of the Notices to Importers, general information has been centralized in one document. Finally, one document that sets out key dates and access quantities for the various TRQs has been created to facilitate the updating and consultation of this information."

Japan’s External Trade Organization issued an “Overseas Successful Collection of Case Studies” detailing Japanese companies that are increasing exports and business in foreign countries, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in an Oct. 1 press release, according to an unofficial translation. The case studies are based on interviews with 100 Japanese companies “that worked on overseas expansion,” the press release said. The case studies are available for download.

The trade dispute between the European Union and Indonesia could allow U.S. dairy exporters to capture more market access in Indonesia, the International Dairy Foods Association said in an Oct. 1 press release. The dispute, which includes EU import tariffs on Indonesian biodiesel and is expected to include Indonesian retaliatory tariffs on EU dairy products, comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture leads a dairy industry delegation to Jakarta, the IDFA said. The delegation is aiming to “strengthen bonds” with Indonesian dairy importers, the press release said, and “could be an opportunity for U.S. dairy exporters to grow market share.”

The Department of Commerce banned export privileges for a man who was convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act in 2018, Commerce said in a Sept. 30 notice. Commerce said the man, Eldar Rezvanov, illegally exported items on the U.S. Munitions List to Russia, including seven fully assembled firearms, 10 firearm stocks, 130 fully assembled lower receivers, 133 firearm frames, 158 firearm barrels, 266 firearm slides, 435 functional firearm parts and 966 magazines. Rezvanov was sentenced to 46 months in prison, three years of supervised release and a $100 fine, and was placed on the State Department’s Debarred List. Commerce revoked Rezvanov’s export privileges for 10 years from his July 24, 2018, conviction.