Mexico is increasing tariffs and creating new tariff schedule provisions for iron and steel products, according to a notice in the Sept. 20 Diario Oficial. The country is creating 82 new tariff subheadings to identify different types of iron and steel, modifying 25 subheadings and eliminating 21, all to improve monitoring required under the agreement to end U.S. Section 232 tariffs on Mexico. Mexico is also increasing tariffs to 15 percent for more than 200 subheadings covering iron and steel products that were previously dutiable at 3 percent to 5 percent, and is modifying the text of 22 other subheadings and increasing the applicable tariff rate to 15 percent, said a Mexican Confederation of Customs Broker Associations (CAAAREM) circular posted by the consultancy AJR Mexico. Rates will be decreased every two years by 5 percent, so duties on these subheadings will fall to 10 percent in 2021 and to 5 percent in 2023 before being eliminated entirely in 2024. Mexico is also increasing tariffs on other tariff subheadings for iron and steel products, and adding iron and steel products to maquiladora and sectoral promotion programs. The changes took effect Sept. 22.
New regulations for customs valuation in Vietnam will take effect Oct. 15 and will include a hierarchy for valuation methods, a change in valuation of certain software and a change in valuation of borrowed goods, according to a Sept. 25 post by Baker McKenzie.
The Directorate of Defense Control’s Defense Export Control and Compliance System will be unavailable Sept. 28 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT for system updates and maintenance, the DDTC said Sept. 25. Users will not be able to submit Advisory Opinion or Commodity Jurisdiction requests during the outage. DDTC said the time window for the maintenance may change. Questions or concerns should be directed to the DDTC Help Desk at (202) 663-2838 or dtradehelpdesk@state.gov.
U.S. exporters reported sales of 581,000 metric tons of soybeans to China since Sept. 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said Sept. 25. The sales are for delivery during the 2019/2020 marketing year, which started Sept. 1. The sales report came as China said it would begin buying U.S. agricultural products, including pork and soybeans, in response to President Donald Trump’s two-week postponement of tariffs on Chinese goods earlier this month (see 1909120046).
An Iranian citizen was sentenced to 27 months in prison for conspiring to illegally export technology to Iran, the Justice Department said Sept. 24. Negar Ghodskani pleaded guilty to the charges in August and admitted using a front company he helped found, Malaysia-based Green Wave Telecommunication, to buy export-controlled technology from the U.S. and hide the ultimate end-user and destination, located in Iran (see 1908120016).
Two Hong Kong bills that could affect trade with the Chinese territory passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee Sept. 25. H.R. 4270, the PROTECT Hong Kong Act, would ban the export of tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to Hong Kong, so that U.S. companies aren't complicit with crackdowns on protestors (see 1909190040).
When Democrats met in the House of Representatives the morning after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally initiated an impeachment inquiry, the bulk of the meeting was an optimistic briefing on the progress toward refining the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to satisfy Democratic priorities.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 25 announced sanctions on two subsidiaries of COSCO Shipping Corporation and clarified that the designation does not apply to their parent company or any of other COSCO affiliates. In total, OFAC announced sanctions on five people and six entities and issued a new Frequently Asked Questions document.
The U.S. and Japan signed a deal to open Japanese market access to more than $7 billion worth of U.S. agricultural exports, the White House said Sept. 25. The deal -- announced after President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met at the United Nations General Assembly in New York -- is an initial agreement as the two sides continue negotiating a comprehensive trade deal “in the months ahead,” the White House said.
The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade issued a Sept. 24 guidance on export controls for dual-use goods, software and technology, goods used for torture and “radioactive sources.” The guidance covers which dual-use items require export licenses, and provides information on nuclear exports and chemical exports, and how they may be impacted by sanctions, embargoes and trade restrictions.