The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security renewed the temporary denial order of export privileges issued to Mahan Airways and several affiliated people and entities in 2018, according to an order signed by the Office of Export Enforcement on June 5. The order was renewed to “prevent an imminent violation” of more regulations, Commerce said.
House members and experts made the case for a quick and long-term reauthorization for the Export-Import Bank of the United States during a June 4 House Financial Services Committee hearing, saying the move could significantly benefit U.S. exporters and help counter China’s export credit agencies and state subsidies. The hearing came about a month after the Senate voted to confirm three appointees to the bank’s board of directors, giving the bank enough directors for a quorum to approve transactions of more than $10 million (see 1905080073).
The Commerce Department is planning to expand end-use checks for export controls, said Nazak Nikakhtar, the nominee for Commerce’s undersecretary for industry and security, a move she said is part of a broader reform movement to improve “export control coordination.”
President Donald Trump said the tariffs on goods from Mexico that were set to begin on June 10 will not take effect on that date after a deal was reached between the two countries. "I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico," Trump said in a tweet. "The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended."
Squire Patton opened an international trade practice in Madrid, the law firm said in a June 3 news release. José María Viñals, previously head of the Madrid office for Lupicinio Abogados, will join the practice, it said.
Crane Worldwide Logistics recently opened a new office in Belgium, the company said in a news release. The office is near the Brussels International Airport and will have Fons de Haan as managing director.
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
In the June 5 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The European Union Council issued a mandate on June 5 for modernizing the EU’s current regime of export controls of dual-use items. The 115-page mandate includes new provisions for “harmonising licensing processes” through new general export authorizations and new controls for “supplying technical assistance related to sensitive items.” It also includes "a new mention of cyber surveillance items highlighting that the competent authorities have the possibility to control such items using the current regulation as for all non-listed dual-use items that could be used for directing or committing serious violation of human rights," the Council said in a May 6 press release. “The new rules will introduce a number of changes to the EU export control system of dual-use items to adapt it to the changing technological, economic and political circumstances,” the notice said. “They will also simplify and improve the current rules and optimise the EU licensing architecture.”
Mexico is extending a grace period for new requirements that took effect June 3 for importers to submit proof of compliance with certain Mexican product standards at the time of entry, the Confederation of Mexican Customs Broker Associations said on its website. Importers that have not yet obtained a certificate from a recognized certification body may nonetheless continue their current operations unchanged, as long as they submit their request for certification to the certification body by June 30 and include a receipt number for the request in their entry documentation. The grace period will last until Aug. 12. Mexico had previously announced that requests had to be submitted by May 31 to qualify (see 1905230061).