The broad range of U.S. sanctions are confusing U.S. allies, seem to have no clear goal and could damage future administrations' ability to levy sanctions, several experts on U.S. sanctions said. The U.S. actions are also allowing countries to create sanctions immunities and leading to divisions in Europe, they said, criticizing the Trump administration’s lack of planning for potential consequences.

In the July 30 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of July 31 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to meet with Japan and South Korea in an effort to ease trade tensions between those two countries, he said July 30. Pompeo, traveling to a Thailand summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said both Japan and South Korea are “great partners of ours” and that “we will encourage them to find a path forward” and “get to a good place.” He plans to meet with Japan's Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono and South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its 2018 U.S. Specialty Crops Trade Issues Report on July 31, detailing challenges and barriers faced by certain U.S. exports. Among the challenges, USDA said, are a rise in foreign “food safety measures” that “unfairly restrict market access” for U.S. exporters. USDA said the strict measures set “new, excessively low pesticide residue standards or maximum residue limits” for food exports, which are lower than U.S. requirements and are keeping U.S. crops from being imported into certain markets. “Such measures can be used as trade barriers designed to limit U.S. agricultural exports that compete with domestic production in foreign markets,” the report said.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., say an overvalued dollar and other countries' efforts to devalue their currencies created the trade deficit that meant "90,000 factories have closed down, thousands of family farms have gone bankrupt, and millions of manufacturing workers have lost their jobs." The Midwestern senators have introduced a bill, called the Competitive Dollar for Jobs and Prosperity Act, that aims to fix that. They announced the bill -- along with support from Trump allies like the Coalition for a Prosperous America -- on July 31.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill on July 31 that would sanction anyone involved with Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The bill authorizes the Trump administration to impose a series of sanctions on those involved, including restricted use of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, restricted export licenses, asset freezes and more. The administration cannot use the measures to ban a sanctioned person from importing goods into the U.S., the bill said. If Congress passes the bill, the State Department would be required to submit an annual report to Congress on all entities involved in the pipeline project.

A new provision in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s rules of origin for automobiles should prevent automobile manufacturers from having to segregate parts on the production line and also make origin calculations less burdensome, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the Senate Finance Committee in one of a series of written answers to questions the committee posed to him at a June 18 hearing. Under the renegotiated NAFTA, called USMCA, certain “core parts” listed in Column 1 of Table A.2 must be originating for a vehicle to be originating, but Article 3.9 permits producers to bundle the parts under Column 1 together as a “super core” part when calculating the value of non-originating material (VNM) for origin purposes. “Many vehicle producers do not segregate core parts when producing vehicles, but use or bundle them within different modules along the production line,” USTR said. “The ‘super core’ calculation allows such producers to meet the core parts requirement without having to segregate each of the parts and do separate, burdensome calculations. The super core calculation incentivizes U.S. producers to use more originating content and maintains their competitiveness without accruing any possible efficiency losses from having to segregate core parts,” the agency said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin traveled to Shanghai for July 30 and 31 talks on a comprehensive U.S.-China trade deal, the White House said July 30. Vice Premier Liu He and Commerce Minister Zhong Shan led the Chinese delegation, it said. “The two sides discussed topics such as forced technology transfer, intellectual property rights, services, non-tariff barriers, and agriculture.” The Chinese “confirmed their commitment to increase purchases” of U.S. agricultural exports, it said. “The meetings were constructive, and we expect negotiations on an enforceable trade deal to continue” in Washington in early September, it said. The Shanghai meetings were the 12th round of negotiations that started in December, and were the first face-to-face talks between the sides since the negotiations broke down in May over Trump administration allegations that the Chinese reneged on previously agreed-to commitments. Overhanging the talks is the threat that the administration could put the List 4 Section 301 tariffs into effect at any time on virtually all Chinese goods not previously dutied.

President Donald Trump told a Brazilian reporter July 30 that the U.S. will work on a free trade agreement with Brazil. Trump, who spoke about Brazilian trade talks at gaggles both before and after his trip to Jamestown, Va., said, "Brazil is a big trading partner. They charge us a lot of tariffs, but other than that we love the relationship." He said he's sure they'll be successful at trade talks. "I have a fantastic relationship with your president," he told the Brazilian reporter. "And he's a great gentleman. He was here, as you know. In fact, they say the 'Trump of Brazil.' I like that. That’s a compliment."