There may not be a solution to the Japan-South Korean trade dispute, said James Schoff, a senior fellow for The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Schoff suggested that the rift between the two sides is not solely about export controls but is instead the result of a culmination of many factors -- including a decline in trust -- and may not be salvable.

LIz Truss, the secretary of state for international trade in the United Kingdom, said her country is looking forward to "leaving the straitjacket of the EU," and said that a free trade agreement with the U.S. "is the inevitable next step." Truss, who met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during her visit to Washington, said they're trying to "get things moving."

Japan is approving exports for a semiconductor manufacturing material to South Korea days after removing the country from its list of trusted trading partners, stressing that South Korea’s removal from the list was not an export embargo, Japan’s trade minister Hiroshige Seko said during an Aug. 8 press conference. But Seko also said Japan will not hesitate to increase export restrictions on South Korea if it finds more “specific inappropriate cases” of South Korea’s export control regime, according to an unofficial translation of the press conference.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “not going to do business with Huawei” despite Commerce officials telling U.S. companies in July the agency was planning to be more lenient on Huawei-related export license applications. “We’re not going to do business with Huawei. We’re not doing business with them. And I really made the decision," Trump said while speaking to reporters Aug. 9. "It's much simpler not to do any business with Huawei, so we're not doing business with Huawei."

Tariffs Hurt the Heartland says importers paid $6 billion in tariffs in June, up $2.5 billion, or 74 percent, from the same month in 2018. The report, based on Census data, covers the first month when Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion in imports from China were at 25 percent rather than 10 percent. The advocacy group also noted that June was the 11th month in a row that American exports targeted for retaliation declined by more than 15 percent.

In the Aug. 7 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The United Kingdom is working with Nigeria to boost the country’s exports and increase trade relations, the U.K. said in an Aug. 6 press release. As Alok Sharma, U.K.’s secretary for international development, visited Nigeria, the U.K. said it is working to help Nigeria’s Export Promotion Council diversify its exports, help “non-oil exporters comply with British standards” and encourage more trading between the U.K. and Nigeria. “A prosperous, growing and trading Nigeria is firmly in the UK’s interests and our relationship will continue to thrive as we leave the EU,” Sharma said in a statement.

Slovakia proposed several changes to its value-added tax law that will provide new rules on a VAT exemption for taxable goods “relating to the international trade in customs and special warehouses,” KPMG said in an Aug. 6 post. The proposals also extend a requirement “concerning adjustments to the input VAT deduction (via a capital goods scheme) to purchases of services related to these goods,” the post said. The measures would take effect Jan. 1, 2020.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Aug. 7 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Colombia made several changes to its customs measures to standardize guidance and help improve foreign trade, KPMG said in an Aug. 6 post. The changes, which took effect Aug. 2, strengthen provisions of the country’s Authorized Economic Operator regime, address consequences for failures to submit advance declarations and extend the time frame for clarifying inconsistencies in imported goods from 15 to 30 days, the post said. The changes are “intended to provide certainty and stability with regard to the customs regime,” KPMG said. The changes also include other measures, which are expected to be clarified in a regulatory guidance for implementation issued by the country’s tax authority, KPMG said.