China overhauled its e-commerce regulations in recent months, upping its de minimis level and adding new responsibilities for logistics providers and foreign suppliers, and also adopted new regulations on foreign medical device facility inspections. Meanwhile, China's General Administration of Customs has recently set new requirements for bonded zones and set lower value-added tax rates for some products. The following is an update on recent customs and trade-related actions by China:

A task force of sanctions policy experts published a list of trends that could have an impact on the future of U.S. sanctions, providing evidence of a U.S. shift toward unilateral foreign policy decisions and warning of unintended consequences from sanctions that are increasingly complex, according to a report commissioned by the Center for a New American Security.

The European Union will add the United Kingdom to the list of countries eligible for its general export authorization for most dual-use goods once the U.K. leaves the EU with no transition deal in place, it said in a notice issued March 27. The new regulation adds the U.K. to authorization “EU001,” which is currently applicable to the U.S. Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. The authorization applies to all goods on the EU’s dual-use control list, with some exceptions such as pathogens and materials, software and materials for making nuclear weapons. The U.K.’s addition to the authorization would take effect on the day that EU treaties cease to apply in the U.K., the notice says.

In the March 27 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Union has reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. on importation of non-hormone-treated U.S. beef, according to an alert from the Cheese Importers Association of America. The U.S. beef industry had been pressuring for the re-imposition of retaliatory tariffs because the EU had purportedly not been adhering to an agreement to increase market access for U.S. beef by way of a tariff-rate quota for beef produced without growth-promoting hormones, the alert said. The deal would still need to be approved by EU member states and the U.S., and the EU must also reach agreements with Australia and Uruguay as the two biggest beneficiaries of the U.S. inability to fill the TRQs, the CIAA said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative "has not issued any formal statement regarding the EU-claimed agreement," the trade group said.

The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of March 27 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Meat permissions that were issued to businesses under the Meat Inspection Regulations will expire on March 31, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in an email. Those regulations were repealed and businesses will need "a Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) licence commencing April 1, 2019 to continue to operate in compliance with applicable regulations and avoid disruptions to trade," the CFIA said. "Continuing to trade in import, export or interprovincial trade without an SFC licence contravenes the Safe Food for Canadians Act and its Regulations, and may result in enforcement actions by the CFIA," the agency said.

China's refusal of canola imports from Canada is the result of "precautionary quarantine measures to ensure safety," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said in a Chinese state media report. China reportedly said recently it would block entry of canola imports from another Canadian firm after previously doing the same to Richardson International (see 1903060058).

After 25 Republican House members met with President Donald Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to talk about how to ratify the new NAFTA, Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said on Fox Business News March 26 that he thinks Congress can do it before the August recess.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a $1.9 million settlement with a Connecticut-based industrial tool manufacturer and its China-based subsidiary after OFAC said the companies violated U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran, according to a March 27 notice. The U.S. company -- Stanley Black & Decker -- and the Chinese subsidiary -- Jiangsu Guoqiang Tools Co. (GQ) -- attempted to export 23 “shipments of power tools and spare parts” worth more than $3 million to Iran from mid-2013 to the end of 2014, OFAC said.