A Justice Department settlement with Honda Aircraft Company after Honda allegedly discriminated against non-U.S. citizens to try to comply with U.S. export laws serves as a cautionary tale for U.S. employers, according to an April 3 report from Covington & Burling. The case, announced in a Feb. 1 press release, resulted in a nearly $45,000 settlement payment from Honda Aircraft after it wrote in job postings that candidates were required to have a “specific citizenship status,” the press release said. The postings were based on the company’s “misunderstanding” of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations, the Justice Department said. Honda Aircraft was ordered to remove all “specific citizenship requirements from current and future job postings.”
The U.S. has "an immediate need" to secure lower agriculture tariffs for its producers because European, Canadian and Australian farmers are selling into Japan at lower tariffs than U.S. farmers can, said Wendy Cutler, the former lead negotiator for the U.S. in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Canada and Australia are advantaged now because they stayed in the TPP. Japan also recently put into force an EU-Japan free trade agreement. Cutler, now vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, spoke at a Washington International Trade Association program April 3 on the future of U.S.-Japan Trade.
Jon Yormick, an international trade lawyer who previously operated his own firm, joined Phillips Lytle as special counsel and will lead the law firm's new office in Cleveland, Ohio, the firm said in a news release.
Michael Roberts, previously general counsel at Crowley Maritime Corp., was named the company's senior vice president for government relations, Crowley said in a news release. "The move will enhance the company’s presence in Washington to better address the important policy and regulatory issues affecting the maritime and logistics industry, and to increase support for the company’s fast-growing work on behalf of the federal government," the company said. Parker Harrison, previously senior vice president of procurement and risk management, will become general counsel, the company said.
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
In the April 2 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The United Kingdom on April 2 signed a trade continuity agreement with Norway and Iceland, the U.K. Department for International Trade said in a press release. The agreement, which takes effect in the event the U.K. leaves the European Union with no transition deal in place -- currently scheduled for April 12 -- “maintains the same level of tariffs on goods traded between the UK, Iceland and Norway,” the release said. “Trading on these preferential terms in a no deal scenario, rather than on World Trade Organization terms, will deliver significant savings and help to safeguard British jobs.”
The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs on April 2 updated its notice on deferring duty, value-added tax (VAT) and other import charges. Updated sections include what can be deferred, payments, guarantees, deferment approval, procedure, statements and duty deferment approval criteria. The information in the notice had not been updated substantively since it was first issued in March 2009.
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 2 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing a translation of China’s food safety standard for fresh and frozen livestock and poultry products, in a Global Agricultural Information Network report posted April 1. “The Standard applies to fresh and frozen livestock and poultry products, but does not apply to ready-to-eat raw meat products,” USDA said. China’s National Food Safety Standard for Fresh and Frozen Livestock and Poultry Products was implemented in June 2017, replacing previous standards issued in 2005.