The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's Office of Antiboycott Compliance settled with a U.S.-based company for $54,000 after the company committed 27 violations of the Export Administration Regulations, enforcement records show. An order signed by Commerce May 20 says Zurn Industries, LLC completed transactions from the U.S. to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates related to actions that “would have the effect of furthering or supporting a restrictive trade practice or unsanctioned foreign boycott.” Zurn did not report “receipts of these requests” to Commerce, as required by law, the records said. Zurn must pay the fine to Commerce within 30 days of the order or face additional charges, and may have export licenses or privileges revoked. If Zurn does not pay the fine, its “export privileges” will be denied for one year.

The Trump administration, furious that Central American migrant asylum seekers continue to stream to the U.S., says that unless Mexico can "dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens" coming to the U.S., it will levy tariffs on all Mexican imports, starting June 10. The tariff will begin at 5 percent, go to 10 percent on July 1, and then increase by 5 percent each month until it reaches 25 percent on Oct. 1.

Although the Speaker of the House said the administration's decision to send over its Statement of Administrative Action and legal text of the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement was "not a positive step," some NAFTA watchers said this should not be seen as a sign that the administration is trying to force the speaker's hand and demand a vote before the August congressional recess.

CBP hopes to kick off implementation of pre-departure electronic export manifest filing by mid-July with the publication of a new business process document, said Jim Swanson, CBP director of cargo and security controls, at the May 30 meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee in Laredo, Texas. Once it’s published, CBP will be able to begin reaching out to the 30-40 “tested stakeholders” that have been fully tested but are waiting on operational guidance, to “get them operational,” he said. Swanson has said pre-departure manifest is a key pre-condition to bringing back post-departure filing of Electronic Export Information (EEI) (see 1903080037).

China is creating a list to penalize foreign entities that damage the interests of Chinese companies, a sweeping but vague move widely viewed as a direct response to U.S.’s recent blacklisting of Huawei Technologies.

Lebanon recently imposed a 2 percent tariff on all imports until 2022 except for “pharmaceuticals, electric cars, and raw materials for industrial and agricultural products,” according to a May 30 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Lebanon also announced a 10 percent tariff rate will apply to 20 products that include certain foods, clothing and “industrial components” that are “deemed as being ‘dumped’ onto the Lebanese market,” the report said. Other products included under the 10 percent tariff are “flour, dairy products, detergents, furniture, leather shoes, bulgur, electrical machinery, aluminium profiles, clothes, wafers and biscuits, vehicle bodywork, metal pipes, confectionary and gums, marble and granite tiles,” HKTDC said. The tax, placed on products the country believes are “being imported in large quantities at prices lower than those produced locally” will be subject to the tariff for five years, the report said. The move was made after a May 22 Lebanese Cabinet meeting, HKTDC said. The report said the tariff increase was intended to reduce trade imbalances and spur local production. Lebanon’s Industry Minister Wael Abu Faour said “this will protect the Lebanese manufacturing sector, contribute to lowering trade deficit and revive a large number of industries," according to the report.

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.