The Brazilian Health Agency will soon begin a 60-day public comment period for a proposal to change the “current good manufacturing practice requirements for medicines,” according to a May 28 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The proposal will follow the guidelines of the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention and Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme, which covers the U.S., Canada, the European Union, Japan, Australia and South Africa, the report said. The proposal will harmonize Brazilian manufacturing practices with international standards, the report said, and promote “the acceptance of Brazilian medicines in other markets.”
Argentina postponed regulations that would require producers and importers of textiles and apparel to provide identification codes and “sworn statements of product composition” (DJCP) in sales documents, according to a May 28 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The requirements were postponed until Jan. 1, 2020, the report said. Currently, producers and importers “must provide a declaration with the fibre composition of their products, while footwear producers and importers must provide a declaration with the constituent materials,” the report said, while DJCPs are “generated through the Integrated Foreign Trade System.”
Several Canadian ports temporarily closed May 30 in the latest escalation of an ongoing labor dispute between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association, according to multiple reports. The ports later reopened after the two sides came to a "tentative agreement" subject to ratification, according to Deringer.
China bought about 13 million metric tons of American soybeans since December, when President Donald Trump decided to hold tariffs at 10 percent on List 3 of the Section 301 actions. But according to a new report from Bloomberg, those purchases have stopped. Officials told Bloomberg reporters that previously contracted sales will be honored. China may need fewer soybeans from any source because of the African swine flu epidemic crimping demand for livestock feed, the report noted.
A dual U.S.-Venezuela citizen pleaded guilty to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after the Department of Justice said he bribed officials of Petroleos de Venezuela, Venezuela’s state-run oil company. Jose Manuel Gonzalez Testino, who controlled multiple U.S.-based companies, was charged with one count each of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, violating the FCPA and failing to report foreign bank accounts, the DOJ said in a May 29 press release.
The U.S. and United Kingdom announced the Financial Innovation Partnership, a collaboration between the two countries to boost “bilateral engagement” in financial services innovation and expand trade, the Treasury Department said in a May 29 press release. Along with “encouraging collaboration in the private sector,” Treasury said the goal is to generally promote “growth and innovation.”
The French Banking Regulator’s Sanctions Committee announced on May 29 that it is bringing enforcement action on Raguram International for sanctions violations, according to a report from the committee and a post on the EU Sanctions blog. The committee announced enforcement on Raguram International for “deficiencies in screening customers” who are subject to European Union asset freezes, the notice said, and in screening customers that could be linked to terrorist financing. No penalty was issued due to their “subsequent compliance efforts,” the notice said.
The Trump administration warned Europe that anyone associated with the creation of the Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges, or INSTEX, could face U.S. sanctions, according to a May 29 report from Bloomberg. The report cites a May 7 letter from Treasury Department official Sigal Mandelker to INSTEX President Per Fischer. “I urge you to carefully consider the potential sanctions exposure of Instex,” Mandelker, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, wrote in the letter, according to Bloomberg. “Engaging in activities that run afoul of U.S. sanctions can result in severe consequences, including a loss of access to the U.S. financial system.”
The temporary general license issued by the U.S. after it added Huawei Technologies to its Entity List has offered “almost no relief” for the U.S. semiconductor industry, which has been hurt severely by the move, said John Neuffer, president and CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association. Speaking on U.S.-China trade issues at a Washington International Trade Association discussion on May 29, Neuffer underscored the importance of the Chinese market to U.S. semiconductor exporters and called on the Trump administration to more tactfully negotiate with China. “We would like the U.S. government to better balance its national security concerns with its economic security concerns,” Neuffer said.
U.S. exporters and others expressed concern over President Donald Trump’s May 30 threat to impose new tariffs on Mexico, saying the move would lead to retaliatory measures and would significantly damage U.S. manufacturers and farmers.