Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., is asking for co-sponsors on a bill that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, just one day after reports surfaced that the White House is also pursuing sanctions against the group. In a May 1 letter, Diaz-Balart said that while the U.S. has designated individual members and branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, it has not yet sanctioned it “as a whole.” He said the foreign terrorist designation would impose “tough sanctions on a dangerous organization with longstanding ties to violent, extremist groups.” Diaz-Balart introduced similar legislation in recent years. The White House has asked national security officials to “find a way” to sanction the group, according to an April 30 report in The New York Times. The White House’s request came after Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi visited Washington on April 9 and “urged” President Donald Trump to join his country in sanctioning the organization, the report said.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control reached a settlement of about $870,000 with a New York-based shipbroking company that OFAC said violated weapons-related sanctions five times. The company, MID-SHIP Group LLC, violated the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations by negotiating contracts among ship owners and charterers worth about $470,000 between February and November 2011, OFAC said May 2. The ships used in the transfers were owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), which was sanctioned by OFAC in 2008.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control published a 12-page guide on sanctions compliance for U.S. and foreign businesses, detailing what OFAC defines as effective compliance programs and outlining several “root causes” of sanctions violations. The guide, published May 2, delves into the level of compliance that OFAC expects from companies and how best to avoid sanctions violations. The guide covers five categories: management commitment, risk assessment, internal controls, testing and auditing, and training.

The U.S. trade war with China resulted in a 7 percent drop in goods exports -- $9 billion worth -- from 2017 to 2018, according to a new report from the U.S.-China Business Council. Even with the drop, the U.S. exported more to China in 2018 than it did in 2016. The report blamed China's retaliatory tariffs on about 85 percent of U.S. exports for the decline.

Mexico recently amended its regulations on payment of duties on goods subject to estimated prices for valuation purposes to add new tariff subheadings covering textiles, apparel and footwear and change estimated price amounts. The April 29 notice in the Mexican Diario Oficial adds 545 new tariff provisions to the lists of goods subject to estimated prices, 234 of which were recently added to the Mexican tariff schedule (see 1904110057), according to a circular from the Confederation of Mexican Customs Broker Associations (CAAAREM). For footwear, reference prices were increased for four subheadings and decreased for seven. For textiles and apparel, reference prices were increased for 498 subheadings and decreased for 51, said the circular, which was posted by trade consultancy AJR Comercio Exterior.

The Mexican Tax Administration Service issued a bulletin April 26 detailing the current state of implementation of its automated cargo lanes initiative at Mexican ports. According to the bulletin, posted by trade consultancy AJR Mexico, SAT is currently in the implementation period for automated cargo lanes for export cargo at the ports of Toluca, Tijuana, and Juarez (Zaragoza); for import cargo at the ports of Guanajuato, Ojinaga and Queretaro; and for import and export cargo at the ports of Puebla and Tampico. The initiative is currently in a pilot phase for import cargo at Mexico City International Airport, Mazatlan, Ensenada, Dos Bocas, Guadalajara (intermodal rail cargo) and Colombia, and for import and export cargo at Monterrey. The system allows for automated screening using radiofrequency technology, the bulletin said.

The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of May 1 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Global Affairs Canada released information on seven categories of tariff rate quotas under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on May 1. The TRQs apply to:

Plant importers will be able to apply for permits electronically starting in June, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a May 1 notice. "Removing the hard-copy requirement makes the electronic application process easier, faster and cheaper, and reduces the administrative burden," the CFIA said. "This updated process promotes electronic access to CFIA services in line with the Agency's priority to offer digital-first tools and services."

While the Canada Revenue Agency may seek broad financial records from non-resident companies, those companies aren't necessarily required to provide records of transactions not involving Canada, said Cyndee Todgham Cherniak, a lawyer with LexSage, in a blog post. "We are aware of at least one situation where a Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) auditor has demanded that a non-resident (U.S.) company to provide a complete electronic copy of their financial records for the purposes of a goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax audit," she said. "The CRA’s request covers financial records of all U.S. transactions and all world-wide transactions that have no connection whatsoever with Canada (in addition to Canadian sales transactions). In other words, the CRA is not permitting non-resident company to isolate transactions involving Canada -- they want everything."