Canada and Mexico each on May 20 ended their retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in response to the end of U.S. Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products from the two countries (see 1905170058). General safeguard duties set by each country remain in place but don’t affect U.S. exports.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a general license temporarily allowing certain transactions with Huawei and 68 of its affiliates without new licensing requirements set by their recent addition to the Entity List. The general license is scheduled for publication in the May 22 Federal Register, and will remain in effect from May 20 through Aug. 19.
In the May 17 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Mexican customs will not enforce certificate of compliance requirements for imports of automobile safety belts at the time of entry into the country, said the Confederation of Mexican Customs Broker Associations in a May 15 bulletin. At this time, there are no accredited and approved certification bodies to evaluate conformity with Mexican standards for safety belts under Mexican tariff schedule subheading 8708.21.01, the bulletin said. The exemption will remain in place until one year after the policy was issued on May 2.
Guatemalan customs authorities will now allow multiple corrections to Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) certificates of origin, reversing a previous policy that only allowed COOs to be corrected once for imports from the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a May 16 report. Implemented beginning April 26, the new policy “will help expedite the clearance of imported U.S. products, saving importers tens of thousands of dollars and make the import process more transparent,” the report said. Under the new policy, the COO can be corrected multiple times within 15 calendar days of written notification, which will also be provided by Guatemalan customs under the new policy.
The U.S. and Japan agreed to eliminate restrictions on U.S. beef exports, allowing U.S. cattle of all ages to be sold in Japan for the first time since 2003, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a May 17 press release. Japan previously banned and then later imposed age restrictions on U.S. beef imports, USDA said, eventually lifting the age restriction in January for beef from the U.S., Canada and Ireland. The decision came after a meeting between Japanese government officials and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and after consultations between the two countries on revising Japan’s import requirements. USDA estimated the change could increase U.S. beef exports to Japan “by up to $200 million annually.” USDA said the new rules and conditions will be posted May 20. “This is great news for American ranchers and exporters who now have full access to the Japanese market for their high-quality, safe, wholesome, and delicious U.S. beef,” Perdue said in a statement.
New U.S. sanctions on China in response to the country’s oppression of Uighurs could be effective, but there’s a risk of retaliation, experts said while speaking at a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing. Uighurs are an officially recognized ethnic minority group in China and other parts of Asia, descended from ancient tribes in Mongolia.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson sidestepped questions at a Beijing news conference May 17 about media reports suggesting new U.S.-China trade talks are off the table for now. Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping “have maintained contact through various means,” the spokesperson said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn’t comment. The U.S. and China “intend to continue further discussions,” a USTR notice in the Federal Register said, officially proposing the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods not previously dutied. Requests to appear at public hearings on the proposed List 4 tariffs are due June 10 in docket USTR–2019–0004 at regulations.gov, and written comments are due June 17, the same day the hearings are set to begin. Post-hearing rebuttal comments are due seven days after the hearings end.
China’s May 13 announcement of additional tariffs on U.S. imports is expected to impact more than 300 U.S. agricultural products that were valued at about $3 billion in 2017, according to a May 17 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. The products affected “encompass a broad range of categories,” USDA said, including “live animals and animal products, horticultural products, grains and oilseeds, food ingredients, prepared foods, wine and distilled spirits, and sweeteners.” Combined with earlier tariff increases announced by China since April 2018, “this brings the total number of U.S. agricultural and related products targeted” by China to over 1,000 products valued at about $22.6 billion in 2017, USDA said. USDA urges U.S. exporters to “check with their local importers to verify the changes in tariff treatment.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned five people and one entity under the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act for Russia-related human rights violations, Treasury said in a May 16 notice. The sanctioned people include Russian government investigators and members of the Chechen Republic’s Terek Special Rapid Response Team.